As if you weren't dead
by Criticalthinking
Summary: Vegeta meets future Bulma in ch. 6! Vegeta lives in an alternate timeline where he is the sole survivor and is constantly hunted down by the androids. He travels to de DB, DBZ and the Future Trunks time to escape his personal hell and to face his demons. Gradually, Vegeta starts to realize that the loss of Bulma and his infant son has affected him deeply. Multiple B/V pairings!
1. Chapter 1

**As if you weren't dead. **

**Chapter 1**

Warming: Dark themes, lemons, mentioning of infant death  
Disclaimer: I do not own. 

***

If he just had taken a ship fifteen years ago and left this stinking mud ball for eternity and let everybody just deal with their own rotten problems...

Why did he have to stay to use that stupid gravity machine to get stronger than that imbecilic clown kakarrot and mate with that depraved woman? How truly foolish it had been…Oh how it had stabbed him in the back when he hadn't seen it coming.

Vegeta, the prince of two fallen worlds, stared into oblivion through a window in Capsule corp. The glass had been shattered a long time ago. He kicked the shards in front of him with his half torn boots. He remembered that most of the Capsule Corp. buildings had been blown at that moment, incinerating the inhabitants along with it. There was nothing left except for broken buildings, remains of corpses and circular shaped smoke clouds, as far as he could see.

His golden ki reflected faintly on the mist and dirt clinging to the air. He had been in Super Saiyan mode for the past year now. He pondered over his hell on earth for one last moment before he left.

He had been living on a steep edge, ever since_ they _had destroyed every other z-fighter. _They_ would come at him again and again, beating him to a bloody heap every time. Each time leaving him on the last string of his life and stepping on his head as a reminder that they were going to visit him again, as soon as he was able to launch a sloppy punch. He had been getting stronger with each beating, but not strong enough to take them both at the same time. They didn't give him time to heal, a sick courtesy that Frieza had given him when he served under his malicious reign.

The androids had let him live…he had been their last source of twisted entertainment.

With every torture and beating, a small voice in the back of his head had been getting louder, screaming for it to be over. At the end it pleaded for his death, so he could finally rest. His pride had taken over again, as soon as he had woken up in a pool of his own blood from the last beating. The androids had left him alone so far as he could hear. He couldn't locate those annoying buzzing sounds they were emitting from afar.

With one bloodshot eye, he had watched the blood creep around him. It mingled with the pools of water, as it had just begun to rain. He scolded at himself for being too weak to beat them, for feeling utterly alone, for letting it get to him and for letting his mate and his newborn son get murdered a long time ago. He imagined them being gobbled up in the heat of the explosion, leaving nothing but ashes behind.

After his stormy affair with the woman he hadn't given her, including the brat in her body, a lot of thought. He had single mindedly focused on his strength compared to Kakarrot's. He hadn't even witnessed the birth of his son, because he was trying to turn into a super Saiyan in outer space. He wasn't ready to fully admit it to himself, but he felt a vague feeling of regret every time he had thought about it.

_How lonely he had been, after the androids had destroyed almost all visible life forms on the planet._

He rolled on his back slowly and grunted as every muscle ached. He tried to stand up, but he landed on hands and knees. He couldn't hold himself steady yet. His stomach contracted and he puked out a mixture of blood and slime. Why the hell wasn't there a working space ship on this Kami forsaken planet?! If he could locate one he could outrun them in space perhaps. But then the androids had an unlimited supply of energy…and he didn't. _Shit, shit, shit shit!_ The veteran punched the filthy ground under him. His thoughts floated back to the past, trying to remember every detail of what the woman had been doing when she was still alive. Why hadn't he paid more attention? He summoned every image of her in his mind he could muster. He had done it lots of times, trying to crack the code of getting out of this suffocating life that this planet harbored.

Vegeta heard himself scream in his head at her for not finding time to repair his gravity machine. And then suddenly an epiphany sprung from his mind. His eyes widened.

_She had been tinkering on a time machine…_

***

There was no buzzing sound to be heard. Vegeta turned around and walked up to the time machine. He didn´t look back at the apocalyptic wasteland he was going to leave behind. Maybe forever. He stepped inside tiredly and strapped himself in. He grabbed the sloppy handwritten manual within one hand and started pushing buttons with the other. Finally, he hit the big green button in the middle of the control panel. He waited impatiently, the damn scrap of metal better work! As on cue the machine started to tremble. He closed his eyes, hoping those damn androids wouldn't pick up on the vibration the machine was emitting. To distract himself, he mentally walked along the path of his future course of action. According to his calculations he would go back in time approximately fifteen years. He needed to bury a spaceship, so he could find it when he returned to his own timeline. He hadn't thought of what to wish for exactly. Maybe he just needed to find the dragon balls and wish himself stronger than the two rotten pieces of scum combined-

His train of thought was cut off in a bright flash. De dark prince opened his eyes, but closed them again immediately. The sunlight stung his eyes through the window above the control panel. It took him a couple of seconds to get used to it. He couldn't remember the last time he had seen the sun in his own timeline. The accumulated smoke had been gathering in the ozone layer en blocked out a lot of daylight in the process.

With a newfound determination the prince unbuckled himself and stepped out into the warm rays of the sun. How long had it been since he didn't have to watch over his shoulder every second of the day? Maybe ten to fifteen revolutions around the sun? He stretched himself and felt the dried blood strain the flexibility of his torn spandex suit. The pain from his last beating still lingered in his body. Now where the hell was he? The scenery just looked so familiar…He felt human ki's standing behind him, unmoving.

He turned slowly and stared right into the very frightened faces of the former residents of his home. Mr. And Ms. Briefs and an intimately familiar blue haired young woman stared right back at him with horror. 

*******

With piercing steel eyes he observed the stricken humans before him. He hadn't anticipated appearing right on Capsule corp. ground. He wasn't sure if this would complicate things or he could take this development at his advantage. Vegeta quickly got distracted.

He swallowed hard when he took in the body of his mate – correction – a younger version of his mate in another timeline. She wore a tiny pink bikini and she had lubricated her voluptuous body with sun tanning oil…

"Hey you pervert! Don't you think it's rude to be drooling on someone you've just met?"

Vegeta, not used to hearing high pitched, screeching voices anymore, flinched. His aura crackled around him and tiny streaks of lightning rippled in the air. Bulma screamed and placed her hands over her mouth. Vegeta saw the silly humans before him stumble backwards in synchrony. He had a very familiar urge to curse at the creatures before him and laugh at them the same time. They were terrified, foolish little beings. Their weakness was practically written all over them. The veteran smirked inwardly, but his expression remained empty.

The mother of the weaklings had fainted and her husband was tending to her. He struggled carrying the full weight of her body in his arms. Bulma's eyes had shifted from him to the time machine. 'Damn it, she must have noticed the capsule corp. Logo on the front.' Vegeta cursed under his breath. Why hadn't he thought things through? Now the circumstances were going to get increasingly complicated.

The prince decided that this annoying staring moment had taken long enough. 'Luckily' the woman – or _girl_ – was about to break the ice again. She had opened her mouth, but hadn't spoken yet. 'That's a first', he thought.

Vegeta watched her intently, not being used to moving life forms around him anymore. Bulma pointed a shaky finger to the time machine, which was still smoking after the exertion of time traveling.

"Look dad…"

The father of the home looked and then fainted too.' Could this get any worse?' The prince rolled his eyes and decided that enough was enough. Within a nanosecond he appeared before the young Bulma. He grabbed her by the arm and dragged her calmly, but forcefully across the lawn and into the capsule corp. building. The clumsy woman almost tripped over the motionless bodies of her parents. Vegeta sighed. He was going to manage this absurd situation in the most effective way possible. _Right. Now._

Vegeta had wondered when she was going to scream the blood out of his ears again. Bulma tried to struggle her way out of the burning grip of his hand. She wailed when the stinging on her skin intensified with each passing. Vegeta snapped his head back to see what the woman was whining about. Bulma's eyes started tearing when she pointed at her arm. "It hurts!" Vegeta let go immediately and took a step back. Apparently his strength had increased more than he had anticipated.

Bulma could have sworn that she had seen a flash of panic in the eyes of this strange captor for a moment. Her anger took the better of her suddenly. "Where are you taking me? You jerk! Are you going to kidnap me or something?!"

Vegeta smirked. She was still a fiery little vixen! Well…technically that meant that she had been like this before he had met her. It was strangely comforting, hearing her scream at him like that.

"Kidnap you into your own home? That's by far the most retarded thing you have ever said." Vegeta crossed his arms and realized his mistake immediately. 'Damn!' It was time to clear his head right now, before he was going to make things worse.

Bulma looked at him quizzically. She looked a lot younger to than he had expected. That little pony tail on top of her head made her look ridiculous.

"How old are you, _exactly_?"

Bulma had quickly found her tongue again. "How rude! Who do you think you are, mister I-stick-my-nose-into-anyone's-business? And you can address me by my name Bulma, you filthy man!" She crossed her arms en stuck her nose in the air. She hadn't changed a drop, Vegeta concluded. He didn't know if he liked it or not. By the way, what did she mean with _filthy_ man? He looked down and realized what she was talking about. His spandex was all torn and colored with blood and grime.

Vegeta had lost his patience. He pulled the girl closer to his face and snarled through his teeth that he didn't have time for this nonsense. Bulma, who found herself terrified again, nodded silently.

"I..I'm…I'mseventeenandahalf.", she blurted out. She watched as the scary man before her zoned out again. Who was he? En why did he look so freakishly...she couldn't find the right word…alien? With this crazy wild blonde hair and yellow stuff around him….It was potentially damaging to her skin. She tried to get away from it by taking a step back.

Vegeta mentally cursed himself. Why did the time machine send him back twenty years back instead of fifteen? Hm…time to fix this damn problem as quickly as possible. He was afraid to hurt her again, so he decided to direct the blue haired teen with persuasive speech.

"Well _kid, _you and I should take a look in this house. I need something and you are going to help me find it. Is that clear?" He threw a warning glare in her direction. It did the trick, because she gulped and followed him.

"Now, where is it? The dragon radar, I mean." Vegeta flared his ki to emphasize his dominance. It had the intended effect. Bulma recoiled and didn't question him. She began looking for it in all sorts of cabinets and storages, until they had ended up in her room. It was sickly pink, Vegeta noted. He looked at her behind longingly. Oh how he had missed some female company, specifically hers. Vegeta mentally slapped himself. This wasn't the same Bulma! Hell, she was still a kid technically. Except…her body looked fully developed. He had difficulty restraining his urges when she walked right past him nervously.

Vegeta sighed and felt an uncomfortable feeling run along his chest. He had changed in the time of this stinking mud ball.

"Put on some cloths, brat. And pull your hair out of that ridiculous ponytail while you're at it. "

Bulma, who had been feverishly looking in every corner of the house the past ten minutes, looked up surprised. Well, at least he wasn't going to take advantage of her…

Vegeta felt three faint ki's approaching slowly. Oh great…His power level had probably signaled his presence. He saw Bulma disappear into the bathroom with a pile of cloths.

Vegeta's inner beast gnawed at his insides in anticipation of a fight. The numbing blanket, resulting from constant trauma that covered his clarity, dissipated little by little. An epiphany struck him. He was the strongest of the universe right this moment! It had been his living dream, his obsession to reach this goal. Maybe I could just take what's coming to me and kill all my former enemy's and rule the universe with an iron fist, he thought. Just like it was supposed to be, _promised_ to me a whole lifetime ago. He waited for the rush that he had expected to come when he had become the ultimate strongest. But he didn't feel it. Somehow the anticipation of conquering and enslaving the whole universe didn't excite like he used to be. Was it true what Bulma had said to him a long time ago? That the struggling on the path towards a goal added more to the satisfaction than reaching the goal itself? Or something like that… He had become a super Saiyan and he could slay Frieza's ass with a flick of his wrist. There were no trashed cans here…yet. But he could wish himself stronger, if he could find those damned dragon balls. Vegeta sighed…And then what? All he yearned for this moment, was a warm shower and a week of sleep.

"Brat, why are you taking so long? Hurry up and go back to finding my dragon radar!"

The door blocked out most of the sound, but he could still hear her mutter that it was technically not _his _dragon radar. She appeared from the bathroom and walked hesitantly towards his direction.

"What did you say, brat?! Are you smart mouthing _me_?" Vegeta flared his ki again and tried his best to look as evil as possible. He scorched the wooden floor in the process. Bulma backed away and trembled.

"N…No! Of course not!"

Nice, he still had it. "Good girl…" She was a lot more obedient than he could remember. It sure made things a lot easier. Vegeta looked approvingly at her new hair. He was less pleased about her cloths. They were still sort of revealing unfortunately…or fortunately?`

He felt three familiar ki's descent in the garden. Great, now he had to take care of that teenage clown, the bald weak monk and the even weaker ex of his mate. They were probably still together in this timeline! Vegeta pretended that he didn't find that upsetting at all. Because…because that would be…that would be truly absurd!

**Author's note: **I'm Dutch and therefore English is not my mother language. I've actually learned most of my English from reading fanfiction. Feel free to correct me if you notice a mistake.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's note: The kind reviews and messages that I've received inspired me to make this chapter post-ready. Thank you all!

Disclaimer: see previous chapter.  
**  
Last chapter:** Vegeta escapes his horrid and lonely life on earth and travels back approximately twenty years in the past. On arrival, he is greeted by a young Bulma and her parents. When he is forcing Bulma to find the dragon radar, he feels three familiar ki's descent in the garden.

**Chapter 2**

Vegeta didn't have time for all this hassle that was going on outside. He was going to handle this situation as quickly as possible.

"Listen to me brat. I will be back in a minute. In the mean time you will continue searching. Don't do as I say and you will face not so pleasant consequences. Am I clear?" He gave her his special evil look again and flew out of the window before she could reply. What kind of freakishly dangerous alien was she dealing with? She could feel that he was immersed in some sort of raw power she had never seen before. There was fire licking at the air around him. That's got to be some extremely effective skill in battle, she thought. What would such a creature want with the dragon balls? She didn't want to think about that…

Vegeta descended slowly in the garden, flaunting his overwhelming power by boosting up the golden aura in the process. The electricity crackled in the air and he smirked. This Kakkarot before him, not much older than 13, was about as strong as his spawn when he was just a newborn! This knowledge pleased him greatly. The youngsters before him looked at him in pure horror.

"Hello_ Goku_, Yamcha and Krillin" He spoke theirs names like they were venom, with emphasis on the first name. Vegeta watched contented as the trio started to panic.

"How does he know our names?!" whispered Yamcha non-discreetly

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm scared as hell! Have you ever felt such a power Goku?" Krillin had difficulty not pissing his pants.

Goku ignored the two next to him and looked at the aura-enveloped man before him. "He is so powerful, I can feel it tickle my skin!"

"Silence!" The three small warriors stumbled backwards by the sound of that intimidating raspy voice. Vegeta paused to enjoy the fear he was inciting in the audience before him. It was a breath of fresh air to finally not be on the receiving end of threatening death. He could kill his sworn arch enemy right then and there, if he wanted. But where was the fun if he couldn't get a good fight out of it?

"Let me get this straight. You all know I'm at least a couple hundred thousand times stronger than you all combined. Am I correct?"

They nodded obediently.

"Good. I am not interested in killing you all _per se_…But if you stand in my way of finding the dragon balls, I will do whatever is necessary to clear the path before me. Do you understand?"

Goku was the first who recovered after the menacing look the foreigner had given them.

"Who are you and where do you come from, stranger?"

Vegeta smirked. He could have his fun and tell them lies and have a good laugh. Or would he warn them about the future, so they could alter it? It could change the future in a disadvantaged way…Hell, he might've already. They were going to recognize him, when he was going to fight them for the first time on earth.

"I'm from the future and I know you all, unfortunately. We are going to be enemies and then allies, sort of. Your little planet is threatened by two maniacal machines and I'm the only one who does not die. Oh, I almost forgot. I am not from this world and we are from the same race. Your real name is Kakkarot. You are a Saiyan." He pointed at Goku.

With that the prince promptly turned around and flew back into the window he just came from. The youngsters beneath him started arguing amongst themselves. ´Pathetic weaklings…´ Vegeta muttered. He needed a shower and then some good uninterrupted sleep. And maybe some food to strengthen somewhat would be wise.

"Woman! Stall your searching. You are going to serve me dinner right this instant!"

.***.

Bulma watched in awe as enormous amounts of food just disappeared in thin air in seconds, in a way that was still…mannered? She was scared as hell of course, but this mysterious man elicited a fascination within the young scientist. _And,_ he had an impressive physique, she couldn't deny that. The young woman slapped herself literally. She was with Yamcha for goodness sake, she couldn't think like this about threatening aliens! Besides, this was just some insanely powerful _old man. _Vegeta looked up from his food to witness the girl slap herself out of the blue. He shrugged and proceeded to stuff his mouth again with precision, how contradicting as that may sound.

Minutes later Vegeta felt warm water running along his tormented skin for the first time in years. How he had missed these small kinds of luxuries. Dirt and blood gathered at his feet. The stream of fresh water massaged his muscles and he was beginning to feel relaxed and oddly aroused. Memories of Bulma writhing under him had plagued his mind ever since he had seen this young version of her. He didn´t want to admit it to himself, but he had missed her around him in more than one way.

The prince looked down to be greeted by his erection. He stroked it lightly while thinking of his deceased lover. As soon as he closed his eyes, her moans started echoing in his head. He gripped himself stronger and pretended he was pushing into her hard.

.***.

What was this big bully thinking?! Intruding her house and just using it as his will! He acted as if he was the king and they were all living here just to be his servants. Bulma threw her arms in the air out of frustration. And that damn dragon radar was nowhere to be found! Just as things were getting nice and normal en she was having a nice quiet summer with her parents, some creepy bastard just decides to show up and order them around. She dropped herself on the couch in exasperation.

.***.

He imagined her legs tightening around him as she was nearing her climax. Vegeta bucked his hips as he felt his own peak coming nearer. He imagined her soft mounds moving to the rhythm of his thrusting. The focus of her bouncing breasts urged his arousal further.

.***.

She should teach him a lesson. Technically he hadn't hurt them, on purpose at least. But he was threatening with violence to get things done from them. Bulma decided that wasn't very nice. From the looks of Goku, Yamcha and Krilling, this guy was insanely strong. Well, if brawl failed, then brains and beauty would be the answer! It was her duty to solve things now. Bulma jumped off the couch with a newfound energy and stormed towards her father's lab.

.***.

He was so close, it was almost impossible to stall his climax, but he did it anyway. He wanted to prolong the feelings of ecstasy just a few minutes longer. He let go of his erection and focused his attention back on the images in his inner world. She lay naked before him. Supple flesh, rounded contours, it was all his to feast on. He entered her again and she screamed out of uninhibited pleasure. He couldn't hold it anymore en gripped his erection to proceed his ministrations. Oh how much he wanted to feel her again. He grunted silently when he felt his arousal explode inside him. He leaned against the cold tiles on his elbow and breathed hard while he saw the essence leaving his body.

.***.

Bulma tried to ignore the worried bickering between her mother and father. She had to concentrate now! She typed determinately on one of the first computers that had come on the market, partly designed by her _of course_. The blue haired woman gnawed on her bottom lip. She was going to figure this out for everyone! The whole world was going to kiss her feet if she successfully removed this nasty alien threat from the planet! If this was going to work then she could send him back to his own timeline! She just needed to get him back in the time machine and sabotage it so he could not travel back to their timeline.

.***.

The dark prince had been sleeping for at least three hours she figured. She nervously opened the door to the guestroom and tiptoed to the bed where their 'guest' was sleeping. The young scientist felt her mouth turn into the Sahara as she approached him. She passionately wished that the sedative would have the promised effect. Her warrior friends had been awfully intimidated by the power of this man. But she had spiked his orange juice with enough sedative to kill two elephants! It had to work. There was no need for sabotaging the time machine, because she and her father had discovered that it was not operational after the last trip.

She halted her sneaking. He was half naked and he was lying on his front. His scarred back looked like some sort of treasure map. He must have a rough life in the future, she mused. Bulma immediately felt some sort of guilt that she was going to send him back to the world where someone or something was inflicting terror upon this mystery man. Maybe she could send him to a different location or planet? Bulma scolded herself. Focus Bulma, focus! She was carrying an engineered material, supposedly the strongest material in the world. If she could just tie his arms with it…

It might have been better to ask one of the boys to do this in hindsight. Well, it was too late to think about that now. Man up Bulma! You've done far more dangerous stuff than this! You just simply have to grab his wrists and tie them together while he's heavily sedated, she spoke to herself jovially.

She stood next to the bed and stretched her body to reach his wrists. Shit, she couldn't reach it. Suddenly the stern voice of her mother popped up in her head. _Oh my! Cursing is not something a lady does, Bulma._

Shut up! I'm saying it in my head, so I can curse however I want! Bulma slapped herself again, although mentally this time. Here she was, trying to tie up an extremely sexy…err old and dangerous alien and she was arguing with herself about manners. She was so close, just a tiny bit further. Yes that's it, you're almost there, she sang to herself. The golden aura had faded to a soft glow. It felt warm on her hands. It was kind of…pleasant?

In the blink of an eye the man beneath her had turned around and yanked her on the bed. She felt a heavy weight push onto her. He had pinned her down tightly.. 'No!' Bulma looked through some strands of blue hair right in the intense steel eyes of their unwelcome guest. Her hair was everywhere, except in the right direction. Vegeta stroked the blue strands to the sides of her face, almost _tenderly_. Bulma was taken aback. What was he doing?! More importantly, what was he going to do with her?! Bulma tried to push him off of her, but she couldn't move an inch! It was like she was trying to move a solid tank! She couldn't even tell if he was aware of it that she was trying to move beneath him. The thoughts of the young woman trailed down a different path. Oh my! She could feel the outlines of his abdominal muscles. Damn it Bulma! Not now!

" Well well well…what do we have here. Bulma Briefs. Tsk tsk tsk." The mystery guest huskily whispered in her ear.

Bulma felt her cheeks burn unwillingly. Damn, this guy made her feel…aroused? The knowledge that this was potentially the most dangerous being on the planet only added to the effect, strangely enough.

" Listen sir, you are too heavy on top of me. Just let me go! I am in a relationship, this is almost cheating…" She saw that he didn't register what she was saying and that his pupils were heavily dilated. Stupid, stupid me! He is baked!

"Took you long enough to come to your senses. You should just admit it when you're wrong, woman". The young Bulma wondered what he meant by that, but she had no time to think about it any further. This chunk of raw testosterone on top of her trailed the nape of her neck slowly with his index finger. Bulma screamed inwardly at herself. Look what you've gotten yourself into! How am I going to resist this and direct his attention away?

" Sir, get off of me! You are too heavy – "

" Hm…calling me 'Sir' now all of a sudden? Since when did you finally learn to respect your superior?"

Okay, that was just strange. This man was clearly challenged in his sanity. Now he was mixing up servants and former lovers or something? Why was this man talking like he already knew her? Maybe she had been one of his servants. Bulma was not impressed. She was _not_ going to be someone's servant in the future. _She_ deserved to be served! She gathered the strength from her pride to resist the delicious stroking this being was performing on her and she took a deep breath.

"Listen _Casanova_, I don't know what you are talking about, but I am not one of your sleazy servants! Now will you KINDLY get off of me?" There was a moment of silence and Bulma watched as the eyes of her captor narrowed. He didn't understand why she was saying all this gibberish, but it was clear that she was rejecting him.

"Humf, stupid woman. Do not interrupt my sleep again for your nonsense!" He grabbed her from under him and threw her off the bed. Bulma's round behind broke the fall. "Ouch!" The mystery guest hadn't heard her (thankfully) as he was sound asleep again. The blue haired youngster slipped out of the guestroom en cursed under her breath. Well that had worked like a charm, she muttered sarcastically.

.***.

Bulma slowly descended the stairs and entered the living room, where here family and friends were seated. With each step the question marks on their faces grew bigger. In an attempt to cover up her failed mission she charged them head on.

"What are you all looking at?"

Krillin was the first to speak up. "Well, how did it go?"

Bulma looked at her feet. "He woke up…and.."

" _And_…?" they all spoke in unison.

"And he thought I was some sort of servant or something." She thought best of leaving the seduction part out of her story.

The people around her seemed to be disappointed, except for Goku. "Well, maybe we should just give him what he wants?" he spoke neutrally.

Yamcha looked at him incredulously. "You don't know what he is going to do with the dragon balls, Goku! A powerful alien like that could accomplish some dangerous stuff with them. I don't think we should trust him!"

Goku pondered his response for a moment. "Well, he is already the strongest guy in this world. Maybe even in the whole universe. It's hard to imagine that someone could become stronger than him. He could kill us if he wants to and he hasn't".

"YET!" corrected Yamcha.

Bunny poured everyone some more lemon tea and commented randomly on the weather. Bubbles were floating above her head.

Krillin sighed and looked at Bulma's father for guidance. He was the only _reasonable_ adult in this company. The older man petted the kitty on his shoulder and made a thinking sound.

"Hmmm. Has anyone thought of asking him what he wants to wish for yet?"

**.***.**

"Why do _I_ have to do it again? I've already put my life in danger this afternoon!" Bulma pouted.

"Because he seems to be more relaxed around you for some reason, Bulma! Besides, he said that we were some kind of enemy. You said that you were some kind of servant of him in the future?"

The blue haired woman scowled. This was turning out to be the worst day of her life. Now they were coaxing her to talk more to that dangerous, unpredictable alien again and she swore she had just smelled some sort of sweet perfume on Yamcha's shawl. It almost made her feel better about the steamy incident in the guestroom. She sighed and gave in.

"All right, fine. But I'm not interrupting his sleep again!"

"Ok babe, we'll wait then." Yamcha smiled forcefully, secretly hoping that his girlfriend wouldn't find out about the date he was having, before he felt a strong surge of power coming from the home of his girlfriend.

The dreams of the fallen prince were filled with shreds from the past, the present and the future. One moment he was being sucked into the nightmare he had been living with the androids and the next moment he was still serving under Frieza's reign. He heard the terrible cackling of Frieza alternate with the dull laughing of the androids. At one point they were all stepping on his head, while he lay beaten on the ground. He felt heels sinking into his temple. The tormented prince had fallen into the deepest pit of humiliation and even the bottom of that pit had been ripped out to let him sink even deeper into a vortex of broken pride, crushed ideals and shells of bitterness.

And then there was the piercing crying sound of a newborn baby. He immediately knew that it belonged to his only spawn. He had hated the sound with a passion when Trunks had still been alive, but now the memory had become some sort of comfort. It was one of few memories he had that held some sort of significance in his life. The piercing sound died inside his mind and he tried to bring it back by running towards the direction from where the sound was coming from.

And then there was she. The older, _true _version of his mate. She enveloped him with her bosom and bit his neck softly, comforting him. It was almost as if she was really there, it felt so real. He felt her caressing him over the length of his body. He relaxed in her grip and buried himself in her.

***

Bulma peaked inside the guestroom and heard the guest-slash-living-tank whimper in his sleep. He had been sleeping for twenty hours total. If he hadn't been some rude alien intruder, she might have been concerned. She had wanted to check his pulse to see if he was still alive, but that wasn't necessary anymore. She could have sworn that she heard him say something that sounded like her name.

" Hm…I probably shouldn't have drugged him _that_ heavily." 


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**Disclaimer: see previous chapter =P**

The fallen prince had awoken with an impressive amount of morning wood. He took a thirty second cold shower to get rid of it fast. He needed those dragon balls immediately. He walked down stairs and saw that a lot of people were gathered around the kitchen table, eating lunch. Well, everyone was eating, but Kakkarot was inhaling everything he thought was edible. Some remains were gathered around the corner of his mouth. Vegeta wrinkled his nose in disgust. Mr. Briefs was not present, he noted. Good, one idiot less to put up with. The unworldly guest wanted to sit as far away from everyone as possible. Luckily they were all clumped on the right side of the table, so he could sit left.

Nobody dared to say anything to him just yet. Bunny was fussing about lemon tea again, Kakkarot was happily eating with his mouth wide open and the rest was staring down at their plates. Yamcha had wrapped an arm around his girlfriend protectively, the veteran warrior noted. Hmmm…he didn't like that. He didn't like that at all.

Vegeta grabbed Goku's plate and decided to disturb his following crying for food rudely by meddling in some affairs.

"So…I didn't know Yamcha's unfaithful ways had started this early, or is your own cologne smelling like _pretty_ roses?" Vegeta grimaced, while taking bites of Goku's food.

Yamcha and Bulma both chocked on their food. Yamcha was quick to the rescue of his own cause. "Well, I happen to _like _the smell of roses in my cologne!"

"What are you saying? Is he going to cheat in the future?!" Bulma slammed her fork down on the table.

"No…no..no of course not babe! You are the only one for me". Yamcha pleaded with his best puppy look. Bulma crossed her arms and huffed. The former bandit tried to stroke her arm but she didn't let him.

The seed of suspicion has been planted, Vegeta inwardly concluded. It lifted his mood slightly. He swallowed his food before he spoke again. "What are you three weakling misfits still doing here? I have no business with you. I've solely come for the dragon radar." Were they still thinking of attacking him? Silly humans and silly Kakkarot. He started piling up slices of bread and fried eggs.

Krillin shivered visibly. Everything sounded like a threat with this guy, even when he actually was not threatening them.

"Whad you whanba wipsh fo?" Goku didn't want to take a break from eating his next pile of food, so he just spoke with his mouth full.

The prince glared daggers at his fellow Saiyan. He gritted through his teeth. "What did you say, _Kakkarot?!"_ Everybody ducked under the table, except for Goku, who finally had swallowed.

"I said, what do you want to wish for?"

"Mind your own business, clown. I'm not going to share my plans with a low class peasant like you".

Goku looked quizzically at him, clearly not really impressed by the insults that sounded meaningless in his oblivious mind. He just shrugged it off. The older Saiyan returned to his food and his thoughts. The truth was, he still hadn't figured out what he wanted to wish for. His priority had been to get off that damned planet in that particular timeline.

Bulma dared to speak up again. "Well, at least tell us your name and where you are from then".

The older Saiyan pondered this for a moment. "I'm am Vegeta, Prince of all Saiyans from the planet Vegeta. You can all address me with 'high and mighty prince of all Saiyans'".

"Wow, so the whole planet is named after you?" Krillin looked at him questionably. Vegeta snarled, regretting immediately that he had given them any information. Bunny started piling up empty plates, but left the fourteen plates of the two Saiyans.

Bulma gaped. "So you are a REAL alien? And Goku is too?! Are you a real prince?! So Goku is your subject?"

Vegeta was a bit annoyed by all her questions, but he decided that he was going to answer them because she was the most tolerable of the whole bunch. Plus, it had been years since he had participated in a normal conversation. Well, as normal as could be with Vegeta.

"Yes." He simply stated. Trouble was going to come, he knew it. He could read it on their faces. They wanted to know everything he knew. It was time to change the subject.

"Have you found my dragon radar yet, woman?"

Bulma didn't look so pleased with her new nickname, but she had been a little shy after their last incident. Besides, he was apparently a prince now. He had kind of gained a little respect from her point of view. She wanted to test him and see if he could still remember their intimate ordeal.

"Aren't you going to call me servant from now on?" The mysterious prince looked at her quizzically, but retaliated quickly.

"If you think that name suits you well, I will call you servant woman from now on". He almost looked amused out of his dark onyx eyes. They were having some sort of argument, remarkably similar to one of the first arguments he had had with her in his own timeline.

Bulma was relieved, he didn´t seem to know what she was referring to. She went for the bold move and stuck her tongue out. Vegeta seemed taken aback by that for a moment. He hadn't expected such a childish gesture from the younger version of his deceased lover. The blue haired woman quickly hanged the subject.

"I've found the dragon radar, but it is not operational yet. I need to manually update and restart the radar after each new ball you want to find. It's only capable of tracing one ball at a time."

Vegeta felt he was not going to like what she was about to say next and braced himself. "It´s going to take me a lot of time to fix it. So…we need to come with you on your journey to find the dragon balls." Bulma prepared herself for another threat.

Vegeta's ki flared and the furniture around him disintegrated in his anger. Damn, he really needed to drop out of this form real soon. Why not right now? He concentrated and let go with a sigh. Everybody around him looked like they had just had witnessed burning water. The golden aura dissipated and his eyes and hair changed back to their normal coloring. Everybody felt the friction in the air falter. Krilling slowly dropped himself out of the chandelier and Yamcha had come back from behind Bulma. She frowned at him silently.

Four pairs of eyes stared at him questionably, intrigued and some of them a little frightened. However, Vegeta hadn't forgotten the subject of the conversation. "That is out of the question! I will not travel with those three fools around me! I'd rather go _shopping!_ He had spat that last word as if it was one of the filthiest things he had even encountered in the vastness of the universe.

"I have a better idea…I am just going to take YOU with me! Whether you like it or not." He pointed in the direction to the only female still present on the table, whose eyes had just grown as big as saucers.

Vegeta laughed genuinely, savoring the power he could enforce over these weak creatures.

.***.

"Well Bulma, we are always fighting. Why don't you take one for the team for once?" Krillin received a death stare from the hot headed young woman.

"Hey that's my girlfriend you are talking about here! I don't want some creepy, super dangerous man taking my Bulma somewhere!"

Bulma focused her death glare on Yamcha now. "Oh, I'm still your girlfriend then? I'm currently under the impression that you are not as committed to our relationship as you claim to be!" Yamcha cringed and knew that he was walking on thin ice.

"Goku, why don't you say what we should do?" Krillin asked the only party who had been silent the whole time. He had been staring out of the window in the direction of the huge power level that had invaded their planet…or timeline.

"I don't know guys. What do we know about this guy? He's from a different time, somewhere in the future. He is the only survivor from some sort of enemy attack. He doesn't seem to want to harm us as far as I can tell. What do you think Bulma? Does he want to harm you?".

"If you forget about the part where he wants me to be his lowly servant, then no." The young female sighed. The three young warriors looked at her expectantly. She already knew how it was going to end. The boys needed to be rescued and she was their one and only salvation. She was going to succumb and sacrifice herself – or in this case, her well-deserved vacation – and work out everybody's problems. She was going to save the earth in the process for goodness sake!

A whiff of cigarette smoke filled the air. "Has anyone asked yet by what and when this whole planet is going to be wiped out?" Mr. Briefs stood behind them, a thoughtful expression on his face.

Everyone looked at the ground, ashamed of their egocentric concerns, Except for Goku. The adrenaline had begun rushing through him with the thought of fighting this almighty opponent who was threatening this planet in the future. In fact, his body had been begging for a spar session with their new mysterious guest…

Vegeta levitated a couple hundred feet above the Capsule Corp. Compound. The buzzing from the refrigerator had started to remind him of the sound the tin cans emitted in his timeline. He felt the younger version of his deceased lover exit the residence and slowly walk towards him.

"Mister prince Vegeta!"

"_High and Mighty_ Prince Vegeta" he corrected. He heard her sigh out of irritation below him, she was apparently oblivious to his sensitive hearing. The prince smirked, secretly savoring this undisclosed bickering between them.

"You may continue to speak,_ servant_ woman". This earned him a muffled irritated grunt. He felt a strange yearning boil up in his stomach. The feeling was a bit similar to…nervousness? The arrogant prince scolded at himself.

"I've thought about your proposal and I'm willing to accompany you on your journey to find the dragon balls. However, I will go as your technical advisor, _not _your servant! There are a few other conditions I wish to specify with you." Bulma spoke solemnly.

Vegeta levitated in the air motionlessly, still with his back towards her. "Spit it out, woman". The mood of the young scientist dropped a little further.

"How rude of you to-"

"I don't have time for your blabbering, Just get on with it!". This time she audibly gritted her teeth. Vegeta snickered in return.

Bulma felt anger burn in her chest. What was it with this guy? It was like he was purposely provoking her to get mad! Did he think that she just existed solely for his amusement? The young scientist tried to get her act together and she cleared her throat.

"We request to know what is going to happen in the future, so we can begin to prepare for it. The timeline has probably been altered by your arrival, but we just want to do everything we can in our power to save earth." She sounded genuine en he knew she was. Under that arrogant spoiled surface she had always been someone fighting for the greater good. It sharply contrasted with his own deeper motives. A realization struck him suddenly. _Shit!_ He had probably screwed up this timeline indeed. Now things could turn out even worse! He asked himself it that was even possible. Besides, why did he care? He probably wouldn't be sitting around and wait for it.

Bulma tapped her foot impatiently. Was he going to answer her or what? "Hey you! If it's such a difficult job to respond to that, I'll tell you my last condition in the meantime. I want us to go with the fastest airplane, so we could get it over with as quickly as possible."

Vegeta appeared before her out of thin air, merely five inches away from her face. "Speed is not a problem'.

Bulma stumbled backwards and screamed, while being cruelly laughed at.

The prince had been performing stretches in the yard, relieving the pain of his muscles somewhat. Apparently it was some sort of spectacle, because the Briefs and the other weaklings had watched him secretly on and off. It felt strange not being in his super Saiyan form anymore, he pondered. His body would need some time to get accustomed to this state of being. He longed intensely for his beloved gravity chamber, which had been destroyed when Capsule corp. had been attacked.

The former bandit glared at his girlfriend. She had been sneaking peeks at the astonishing physique of this unknown bastard with maniacal tendencies. He hated how badass he looked with all those scars and that powerful aura surrounding him. He knew Bulma liked that edgy look, because she digged the scar on his own cheek. But he couldn't compare with multiple war wounds…damn it! Even Bulma's mother had been caught staring with glazed eyes at the guy who had threatened to kill them all, just yesterday! And he was going to take his girlfriend to the end of the world by this afternoon! But maybe…maybe he could take advantage of her temporary absence. Yamcha didn't know if the benefit outweighed his jealousy. He balled his fists tightly. He imaged this dangerous man violating his girl and his ki spiked in reaction to it.

Vegeta felt a ki spike behind him and he caught the scarred weakling glaring at him angrily. Maybe he could have some fun while the woman was packing her belongings, he wondered. An ominous figure appeared right before the fuming bandit and started moving around him like a panther stalking his prey.

Yamcha saw the evil glint in his eye and cowered. "Well well well…quite upset aren't we? He was going to exploit this new position of absolute power to the maximum.

The scared bandit tried to steady his trembling body and buffed himself up to assert his, or more like, _some_ dominance.

"Don't you touch her, you filthy old man!"

Vegeta looked amused. "I'm not interested in touching her _per se,_ but if she comes to me willingly during our traveling's I might not be able to restrain myself…"

"You sicko! Bulma would never cheat on me and certainly not with some old lecherous creep like you!"

"She is going to do exactly how you describe approximately ten years from now". Vegeta watched in delight how the weakling before him turned gray in the face.

"You are lying! You evil son of a bitch!" The former bandit dropped bravely into a fighting stance.  
The prince looked at him unimpressed. He had been lying technically, but it all came down on the same thing. The weakling had been caught cheating again, she broke it off for once and for all and the stormy affair between the two strong characters had begun. But still, she had obviously chosen the better man.

Yamcha was about to charge, but refrained himself because he knew it would be a suicide mission. "I'm going to tell Bulma all the humiliating untruths you say about her and make her stay here with me. You can find your own technical servant to do _your_ dirty work."

Threatening the powerful alien before him didn't have the desired effect, Yamcha noted. His amused expression hadn't changed.

"I don't think it is wise for you to tell her such information. You might even instigate the idea…" Vegeta turned around calmly and walked back to the spot where he had been stretching, leaving an angry but effectively silenced beta male behind. Young Kakkarot suddenly blocked his path.

"What do you want?" the Prince said annoyed.

"I do not believe you are going to harm us anytime soon, but I'm keeping my eye on you", Goku said matter-of-factly.

His prince smirked. "And then what?" Kakkarot had obviously picked up on the little quarrel with the ex –err boyfriend- from his former lover, or was it _future_ lover?

Goku shrugged. "Look, I appreciate it that you have come to warn us and all, but I don't want you to disturb the normal lives of my friends." His prince noticed the tension in the body of his subject. He is probably high on adrenaline due to the presence of a powerful potential opponent, he thought. He wants to test his power, like a Saiyan. Vegeta smirked. "You want to fight." He stated simply.

Goku's face lit up and nodded eagerly.

"Ok fine, I will go easy on you, but not too easy…" Vegeta grinned evilly.

The fight had started immediately. Goku charged him head on and slammed his fist into the jaw of his prince. There was something terribly wrong, Goku concluded. His fist ached painfully and the man before him hadn't bat an eye, _literally_. Goku stared at the manifestation of a man made of steel before him in awe. He wondered if it was possible that he could even become half as strong as the warrior before him.

Vegeta was having one of the best days since he could remember. He had a good night and day sleep, a very fine diner, he could humiliate the weakling _and_ he could humiliate Kakkarot on the same day! His former rival had been reduced to the strength of a mere space fly.

"Come on you low class peasant, even you can do better than that."

Goku blinked, while rubbing his painful fist, wondering why the guy before him was calling him a peasant.

"You mean, I'm going to become stronger than this?"

Vegeta frowned. Shit, he was going to give his former rival ideas of becoming stronger. That was the last thing his past self was going to need! He needed to intimidate the hell out of him as quickly as possible. Within a split second he turned super Saiyan and started to charge his power.

A crater formed in the ground and Goku tripled on the edge of the dented ground. An overwhelmingly raw power clawed at his skin. He had to shield his eyes from the sudden boost of golden flamed. The Caps. Corp. residence shook on its foundation and the trees surrounding the yard started waving dramatically.

Vegeta laughed maliciously. He felt the power burn in his veins. After his last recovery he could finally feel how strong he had become. With delight, he took in the astonished expression of his rival and squeezed his fists. He was finally the strongest in the universe. With this clown out of the way he could have every being of the universe trembling on its knees in awe of his incredible power. His inner beast clawed at his insides and ignited the flaming desire for world domination. The feeling momentarily consumed him as he watched his former rival shield himself from the raw power that he was emitting.

A small voice in the back of his head halted him suddenly. 'And after world domination?' The mentally tired prince dropped out of his super Saiyan mode again. Maybe he just needed to get another good night sleep. After all, it was not surprising that he hadn't returned to his former self yet since he had been living with the scraps of metal on his tail for more than a decade.

Bulma came out rushing in to the yard, an outraged expression on her face. "What the hell happened to our yard?"

Vegeta's mood lifted somewhat. Annoying the woman was the icing on the cake. Today had been a good day. Vegeta felt satisfied and crossed his arms defiantly, a small smile tugged on the corner of his mouth.

.***.

The blue haired youngster had been searching for some sort of custom made screwdriver for the past two hours. Damn it, that scattered mind of hers had always been a problem apparently, Vegeta thought. He rolled his eyes. He was heading towards the laboratory of her father; he had sensed her energy from that direction. He walked right past the secretary, posted before the lab. Her face had a pointed shape and she smiled warmly at him.

"Excuse me mister, you can't walk into the lab without an appointment. Can I have your name please?"

Vegeta looked at her incredulously for a moment, but then regained his composure. That's right, he quarters for the last seven years of his life, completely alone. A familiar smell suddenly penetrated his mucus membranes.

Wait a minute…he recognized the smell coming off of this woman. It was a mix of roses and some sort of fabric softener. He has smelled it on…the weakling bandit! He decided to try his luck. This could certainly work in his advantage of pestering the weakling bandit.

"Aren't you involved with that _human_, Yamcha?"

The girl looked at him strangely. Why did this man emphasize on the fact that her soon-to-be boyfriend was human? Then she thought about the fact that the strange bloke had said that they were involved. So Yamcha was spreading the word about them then! Vegeta saw a dreamy look on her face and knew he had hit the jackpot.

"Yes sir, we are dating. My I ask how you know that?"

That evil glint appeared back in the eye of the Saiyan. "He told me about you. He is going to be present in the yard in an hour and a half. He has specifically asked for you". Vegeta saw the mouse- like face before him lit up. Things were headed in the right direction, Vegeta concluded satisfied.

Without saying another word Vegeta walked right through the four inch steel door like he was walking through soft butter. He heard a thumping sound behind him. Pff…pitiful humans and their fainting, Vegeta thought while he dusted off some metal remains.

The dark prince walked all the way to the back of the lab, where he knew his former lover had always been tinkering away on all sorts of strange inventions. He bluntly disrupted a private conversation between father and daughter. They were hunched together and were almost whispering. They looked up at the intruder, both equally surprised that he could find them in the deepest caverns of the Caps. Corp. residence.

"We leave exactly in one hour and a half. Old man, _you_ are going to fix my time machine while I'm gone." Vegeta stated coldly.

Bulma sighed and muttered something under her breath about him being the prince of all jerks and turned on her heels to look around in some other parts of the lab. Vegeta was about to return to the yard, where he could finish his stretches, but the old man stalled him. His usual care-free and clueless aura had dimmed somewhat in the moment, Vegeta noted. It mildly spiked his interest.

"Please don't hurt her…" Sorrow was dripping off his slightly aging face.

"I do not _intend_ to do so. It sounded like a threat, but it wasn't. He had no desire in damaging her in any way, but he couldn't promise anything.

Mr. Briefs tried to read him and decided that it was good enough. If he had wanted to wreak havoc, he would probably already have done it. The older man nodded and returned to his work.

Vegeta walked back with a strange knot in his stomach. The conversation with the old man had brought up some unwanted feelings. He had never intended to hurt his former lover and his spawn, but it had happened. He had abandoned them emotionally and physically. It had eventually led to their deaths. He could've kept them alive a little longer is he had had his priorities straight. He quickly pushed the image of the bloody body parts of his deceased lover and son to the back of his mind.

Maybe he could set things right this time. At least let them prepare for what was coming to them. It would be at a disadvantage for the Vegeta in this current timeline, but it would be the best for _her_. The prince wrinkled his nose. He was getting soft…

The prince snatched a notebook and a pen from the desk of the secretary who was still out cold. He sat down in a deserted office room and started to write out every detail of the arrival of the androids. He added an elaborative paragraph of their sociopathic behavior and their strengths and weaknesses.

"Aren't you done yet woman?" Vegeta paced impatiently back and forth from the time machine to the front door. He wanted to get away from all these damn inquisitive creatures. He had never been a people's person, but since the hellish years with the androids he had grown unaccustomed to be around other living beings. Plus, he felt the desire of isolating the younger version of his lover from her current _mate_.

Vegeta unconsciously wrinkled his nose when he saw Yamcha rain kisses all over the blue haired vixen. Yamcha daringly looked at the prince when he placed a kiss in her neck. Bulma giggled and pushed him away playfully.

"Not here, you naughty bandit! I don't want my parents to see this when they come to say goodbye". Bulma looked at the cheeky grin on Yamcha's face and smiled in return. Then she saw Yamcha's face falter. Panic started to accumulate in his eyes.

The dark prince beheld how his plan played out perfectly before him. It was the girl with the pointed face who was stumbling at a surprising rate towards them, armed with an angry scowl and a sharp heel in her hand. Yamcha ducked before the stiletto heel could penetrate his eye. Bulma walked backwards, still oblivious of the whole situation. Vegeta pulled her back from the scene and watched evilly how Yamcha was being attacked with shoes and yellow painted nails.

"You _asshole_! Asking to see me and then kissing another girl right in front of me?! How dare you!"

Bulma opened her mouth in horror and tears started to from in her eyes when realization dawned upon her.

Yamcha tried to refute what she was saying, trying to stop the damage from escalating. "What? I've never met you in my entire life! Stop bothering me, you crazy woman!"

Vegeta, pleased by the current developments, watched the scene unfold before him. The girl with mouse-like features loosened her other heel and threw it at Yamcha, but he ducked and it was currently headed right in Bulma's direction. Vegeta obliterated it calmly with a ki ball from his finger, before it had hit her face.

He realized that now was the perfect time to leave. He wanted to escape all the drama that was about to unfold. He checked Bulma's backpack with super speed. The dragon radar was present, next to at least thirty capsules.

Bulma blinked her eyes a couple of times to see clear again. For the first time in her life she couldn't find her tongue. Every second dragged by as this newfound information started to sink in. When she opened her eyes slowly after de last blink she suddenly saw buildings flashing through a yellow transparent sheet. When she opened her mouth to scream, she felt a gloved hand close around it.

"Shhh, be silent woman. " Vegeta tried to sound comforting, but it still came out gruffly. He held her by the torso against his own. It had been so long since he had been close to another living being. The dark prince felt wetness leaking through the fabric of his gloves. Great, now she was crying.

"Are you whining over that idiot loser, woman?" She sobbed against his hand and nodded, not paying attention to the rapidly changing scenery around her.

"Save your human weakling grieving ways for something of worth."

Bulma could feel her heart being shred into tiny bits and pieces from acute heart break. She had never been this hurt in her entire life. At the same time she vaguely wondered where the dark prince was taking her and why he was expressing some sort of concern for her feelings, in his own deranged ways of course. It slowly dawned on her that she was traveling at high speed, high up in the air.

Vegeta calmly unclasped her mouth and lowered his hand to her waist. "That weakling bastard was going to cheat on you multiple times in the future. You should be glad that you've gotten rid of that weak pest this early in your life."

Bulma's sobbing seized somewhat. Anger started boiling inside of her. It felt better that the intense sadness she was experiencing. She wanted that anger to be fueled, to supress more of her pain. "Did you know us well in the future? Tell me what he was going to do to me."

The dark prince had hoped for a short and quiet journey, but apparently he wasn't allowed to by the Saiyan Gods. On the other hand, it might provide him the satisfaction of badmouthing the weakling bandit. He caught a whiff of her pleasantly smelling hair and savored it unconsciously.

"He would come to you right after he had fucked some other woman."

"How do you know?"

"I could smell them on him."

"Ewww!"

.***.

The blue haired woman saw tiny villages, embedded into dark green woods, fleeting by.

She asked herself why she could hear the man talking behind her so well at this speed. They must be flying a couple of hundred miles an hour! She also wasn't freezing to death, as was expected at this speeds and heights.

"Vegeta…" Bulma said distractedly.

Her only affirmation was a throaty grunt.

"Why don't I feel the friction in the air from the speed and is everything kind of yellow-ish?

"Stupid girl. I'm protecting your frail little body with an energy shield, so your head doesn't get ripped off."

Bulma couldn't decide if she was grateful that he was protecting her or mad because he was insulting her in the process. She decided to just ignore both feelings.

"So, I guess we are going into the direction of the first dragon ball?"

Vegeta wondered how such a brilliant mind could ask such stupid questions.

"Just shut up, woman". Bulma desperately wished to have eyes in the back of her skull, so she could glare daggers at her captor. She folded her arms over her breasts and accidently touched the muscular chords wrapped around her stomach. She suddenly realized how intimately this grumpy alien was touching her. 'Oh no…This trip going to be soooo awkward', the blue haired woman thought.

Vegeta had been trying not to think about the voluptuous bottom that was lightly pressed against him. The troubled prince panicked silently. 'Shit, don't get hard, don't get hard, don't get hard! 'Vegeta, prince of all saiyans, you're the embodiment -no- _epitome _of self-control and discipline. If anyone could control his instincts, it would be you!' he encouraged himself silently.

The shadows of his dark side silenced his panicky thoughts. 'A mere human having so much power over you? Don't be absurd. You'd kill her, if it was necessary.' She didn't have more use to him other than being his technician next to some entertainment. He had promised himself not to fuck her since she was less than half his age, and still a little too young, or innocent. Her childish demeanor repulsed him somewhat. Plus, it might bring the time line to an irreparable state.

The blue haired youngster could feel an awkward tension building between them. A fortunate distraction was the rapidly changing scenery below her. The small clusters of rustic houses fluently changed into a thick tapestry of a forest. The descending sun casted a beautiful purple light onto the ripples on the small lakes. Bulma found herself lucky for not being afraid of heights.

She hadn't noticed that their surroundings had been changing less rapidly until they had lost almost half their speed. Vegeta felt the flying effort draining his body at a fast rate. He mentally cursed himself for still being far weaker than he was supposed to be. Damn it!

"Vegeta, why did we lose speed?"

The proud prince wouldn't admit to her his situation.

"To set camp." he answered gruffly, and promptly halted in the air. The youngster felt how the inertia pressed the blood to the front of her body and shrieked.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**Authors note**: Thanks to all those reviews, I've decided to post an early fourth chapter. Thank you so much, you guys are awesome!

Vegeta will be visiting different timelines in the next chapter.

**Disclaimer: **See previous chapter, mwahahah!

The blue haired woman watched the exhausted prince lay on his back, with his muscular arms folded behind his head. The flickering fire exaggerated his flame-like hair in his shadow. He was gnawing mindlessly on a chicken bone in the corner of his mouth while he looked at the stars. She was certain that he was carrying a scathed spirit, although it was deeply buried beneath his piercing black orbs. He appeared so wild and he communicated with a military coldness, but she knew there was a whole inner world that he was deliberately not revealing to anyone. She tried to imagine how it would feel to be the last person on the whole wide world, being utterly alone and condemned to constantly fight for survival. Who would have thought some mere earthy machines were going to wipe out the entire planet? Hell, the development of robots was still in its infancy.

"Do you know how the androids were made?" Bulma prudently met his clouded eyes, unsure how he would react to that question. She had learned that the prince could be unpredictable.

"Some lunatic, named Dr. Gero, builds two overgrown calculators and wants to enslave planet earth via their powers. The fool gets killed by his own creations and the androids are free to do as they please, which is torturing and killing every living thing in sight."

Bulma shivered and didn't know if it was from the upcoming cold or because of the sinister mental images that had been invoked about the end of humanity. 'Dr. Gero…' That name sounded familiar to her. She would have to look it up when she was home again.

"Are we going to wish this doctor a more harmless man, or just dead?" Bulma crawled closer to the fire and swung a large shawl around her shoulders.

Vegeta thought about it for a moment. It would be the most simple solution, but the thought of never settling his personal vendetta against the androids agitated him. Next to that, the strength he could gain in the fight could come in handy in warding off potential aliens – or machines- that were stronger than the androids in the future. He probably could take on both rotten cans if he had time to properly heal and get more training time. He could wish for some sort of catalyst to reach his ultimate potential, maybe…

Bulma asked impatiently what was taking so long and Vegeta snapped out of his train of thought. She was catching up on defiance in a short time, he noted. It irritated him, but it aroused him ever so slightly.

"Drop some more humility and gain some death." Vegeta flung her backwards on the ground. He pushed her arms down by her wrists. The dark prince loomed dangerously above her, scaring her with his signature evil grin. The blue haired youngster cried out of fright, but glared at him defiantly. His tongue and body threatened her life, but his gaze was almost…flirtatious?

"Why did you come to this planet and what's your connection to us?" Bulma's eyes were painted with a mixture of fear and bravery.

Vegeta lowered his face till their noses were almost touching and spoke low and deliberately: "Trust me. You_ don't_ want to find out." Piercing black eyes watched closely at how the reflection of the flames contrasted with a pair of blue irises. Damn it, the little creature intoxicated his body like it had in the past, her supple flesh felt the same under his hands and she was the spitting image of the woman he had once been intimately acquainted with. But. Her eyes didn't look up at him like the way he remembered. _It wasn't like her…_

He rolled off of her and snatched a capsule labeled 'two bedroom house' from the backpack. During the 'uncapsulation', the dark prince made sure he remained with his back to her, so he could hide his upcoming erection. The dark prince cursed himself relentlessly, after he had thrown himself down on the nearest bed. It had been too long, the prince groined. He could not yield to her. She was far too young and innocent still. Plus, she reminded him of the woman he had shared his bed with, but she simply wasn't the real deal. It was slightly off-putting, he realized.

But her presence had done something else to him. She had stirred the clotty assembly of bitterness, hatred and loneliness, that had been slowly eating away at his insides. But the prince wasn't ready to admit these feelings to himself yet.

Meanwhile, the young scientist remained lying on the floor, flushed and bewildered. Who the hell was this alien freak?! She regained her composure quickly. With a nervousness flickering in her core, she searched for the appropriate capsule for her objective. This guy was bad news, but it made her feel kind of…alive? Maybe that's why she was so drawn to her dangerous adventures with Goku and the others. She had liked Yamcha. He was a semi-dangerous desert bandit. In hindsight he seemed like a docile kitten in comparison with this dark and mysterious being.

Bulma whispered the name of her former lover, sadness seeping in her voice. She had just recently lost her virginity to him, after months of awkward fumbling. Although the experience hadn't been as marvelous as she had seen on TV, it had been special to give herself to her first love.

Bulma uncapsuled a handbook of maps of the world and started flipping through the pages to find a more detailed description of Asia.

It was _supposed _to be forever. Her first experience with men had been utterly disappointing. The teen felt anger building inside her again, but redirected her attention to their mission, so she could distract herself from her recent heartbreak. Although defiant tears kept seeping past her eyelids, to her irritation. She angrily wept them away with her sleeve.

With his face stuffed in his pillow, the thoughts of the prince had started to wander. He marveled about a curious account. His body _still_ felt drained from life juices, although he wasn't able to pinpoint why exactly. Tatters of questions floated into his half-conscious state. Why did he lose power while he was flying with a mere 50 kilo's in his arms? It didn't make any sense to him. Slowly, the blackness overpowered him and he gradually drifted into a dull sleep, while he listened to the rummaging sounds of a girl in the background

Bulma tried to call back the route they had flown. She followed the possible trail they had passed with her manicured index finger. They were in a very sparsely populated area, probably somewhere around the borders of China and Mongolia. She compared it with the dot on the dragonradar.

"Then the dragon ball must be somewhere around here." she mumbled to herself and shifted her index finger to the south-east of Russia.

Suddenly the dot shifted an inch to the right on the green screen. Bulma blinked and looked hard at the device in her hand. It unexpectedly shifted back. She blinked again, trying to comprehend what was taking place in her hand. "What is the meaning of this?!" Bulma whispered with force, afraid that she would wake the unpredictable Saiyan. The dot suddenly shifted two inches to the left.

She frowned. How long would it take to find this strangely moving dragon ball? Her mind sprung full of different calculations, running serial and parallel. She hated not being able to explain this new phenomenon. The scientist within her had been fully awakened.

In the mean time, somewhere in the deep vastness of space, an exchange of information occured.

"We didn't manage to receive the exact amount of ki, my Lord. But it is obvious that these readings are unusually high." The subordinate bowed deeply, afraid that he-as the messenger- would be blown to bits. He focused his gaze on the contemplative fingering around the stem of a glass filled with wine. He was afraid to look the menacing creature directly in the eye.

The purple lips of the creature before him started to move. "And how do you know that these readings are recent? It's a reading that originates a couple zillion miles away. It could have been transmitted millions of years ago."

Only those with very sensitive ears could have heard the echoing of sweat drops hitting the ground.

"We believe that the signal has been traveling through a wormhole of some sorts, my Lord. It could have been transmitted yesterday, for all we know. The exact magnitude of the ki can also not be determined. It might be possible that the height of the ki has been inflated due to galactic forces. The readings are implausibly high. We believe that the signal might have passed a quasar."

"Do not bore me with your technical rubbish. Report back to me when you know where this high energy originates from. Then _I_ will look for the little pesky power level myself. Tell special unit three to prepare for take-off." He wanted the vermin under him to act as a meat-shield. Even though the astronomically small chance of these readings to be correct, he still did not want to take the risk of getting killed. If the readings were indeed correct, he could monitor the confrontation via scouters and formulate a strategy to wipe out this potential threat.

"Yes, my lord. I will report back to you as soon as possible." The subordinate touched the floor with his nose, to make sure that he was giving the highest respect to the creature before him.

Vegeta was tossing and turning in his sleep. Two purple lips wrenched together into a pained expression. In truth, this power could be a great threat for his upcoming universal dominance. He was going to nip this potential threat in the bud. His other duties would have to wait.

Steel blue eyes, lifeless, though very much focused, on him. An android, although he didn't know which one yet. _Shit_. It opened its mouth and a loud, high cackle escaped between two thin lines. It was the vile sound that belonged to Frieza. _Fuck_. The lost prince Vegeta withdrew from the incarnation of all his worst enemies combined. The thing before him grabbed his throat and held him still, while giggling wickedly in his face. Vegeta tried to peel the venomous nails off the skin, just above his artery. Time stood still and the strangling seemed to go on for hours and hours. He was trapped into the claws of this macabre thing forever, no matter how hard he struggled and powered up. A foreign hand suddenly grabbed him by the shoulder and a splitting shriek pulled him roughly out of the darkness.

Vegeta groggily opened his eyes, trying to make out what was happening around him. He was holding a small cushion-like object in his hand. When he let go of it, the shrieking sound grew slightly less alarming. He suddenly jumped back against the wall and down on the bed again, leaving a large dent with cracks on the wall behind him. He saw the young Bulma, red faced and sobbing, with her hands clamped between her thighs.

He couldn't make out why this scene before him was taking place. "Wha-what is going on?!" Vegeta demanded more than asked.

"Y-you freaking son of a BITCH!" Bulma stumbled back and forth, in an unsuccessful attempt to escape the pain.

"What the hell is wrong with you?! You freaking, alien ASSHOLE! Do you realize how much this actually HURTS?! I think you broke my hand!"

"What the HELL were you doing in my room, you damn woman!?"

The blue haired scientist was absolutely livid. A murderous, yet incredulous glare was spat into his face. "I was going to wake you, because you had been screaming in your sleep for almost an hour, you dick!"

Bulma opened her mouth again, but Vegeta ordered her to be silent. He calmly marched straight forward and halted before her, looking at her impatiently.

"What do you want?!" She cried while still desperately clinging to her hand.

"Give me your hand, you weakling."

The blue haired youngster reluctantly stuck her throbbing hand in the direction of the one that had caused her pain. The prince carefully took the small hand in his glove and inspected it closely.

Bulma grit her teeth to not cry out in pain again. Vegeta sighed. Now he had broken the promise to the old man, because the wench before him shattered like the thinnest glass imaginable. And since when did he actually care about that?!

"It isn't broken. ", he said more to himself that to the sobbing woman. He was actually kind of relieved. It was a miracle that he hadn't crushed it into minced meat.

"You act like this is suddenly okay, now you know it's not broken", Bulma fumed.

The prince quickly lost his thin patience. "You stupid woman! You act like it's _my_ fault, while YOU breached my room. It's all due to your absurdly physical _and mental_ weakness that this harm has become upon you!" The prince crossed his arms arrogantly and looked away.

"Fuck you, you freakish prick! You come to MY house, THREATEN me and my family, take me with you to do your dirty chores and then you fucking keep me up all night with your fucking nightmares-AND then! You think it's MY fault that you almost squeezed the blood from my pores?! Because I am too WEAK?! You are absolutely impossible, I tell you. IMPOSSIBLE!" The red faced youngster threw her hands in the air out of desperation, regretting it instantly, because a new pain surge invaded her nerves.

Bulma stormed out of the room, quickly grabbing the bag of capsules. For a brief moment, Vegeta was in shock. He watched her sprint through the bedroom window. A dot of blue was quickly swallowed by the dark curtains of the night.

This woman was definitely different from the woman in his timeline, although she should be the _exact same _woman, Vegeta pondered. This Bulma just put up with him for the time being, just because she was coerced into doing so. Not because she actually wanted to help him, like she seemed to do in his own timeline. She had giving him privileges out of her free will and had actually enjoyed his company. _Sort of_. He had expected the same accommodating nature towards him. Could it be…that she had developed some sort of affinity for him, right after Namek?

The lost prince kept stoically staring into the direction of the body that had been immersed into blackness a minute ago.

Some time later, the veteran leaned back on the bed, trying to pinpoint the exact nature of timelines in general. His plan had been to travel to the past, bury a spaceship so he could leave his personal hell hole when he would return to his own timeline. _After_ he had destroyed the androids of course. But if this was possible, then it was also possible that when he traveled back to his own timeline, he would encounter an entirely different world. In that case he had changed the course of history by traveling to the past.

This could mean a number of problems, the prince mused. He drummed his fingers on the bed frame. He could wind up in a world where he was supposed to be dead, for example. He would instantly vanish in thin air, if that was the case. That certainly would not be preferable, after all this effort to stay alive.

He hadn't put much thought into what kind of repercussions he could face, because he had left into a hurry. His priority had been to escape the abhorrent torture of the androids. He had been to hell and back again, but the reign of the androids had been much worse in the dimension of the living, he concluded. The veteran scolded himself for thinking weak thoughts and quickly forced his attention back on the subject he had been pondering on.

It was also possible that, because of his interference, a whole new timeline had been created. One that had split off the original timeline when he had time traveled and now existed next to the original time line.

Another possibility was that infinite dimensions were being generated continuously and that each dimension existed on its own. In that case, the dimensions would differ in small or large ways from each other. They could be taking place amongst different times and places. This meant that it was nearly impossible for him to get back to his original timeline, because it was an utter miracle that he had landed on a timeline that was similar to his own in the first place. And maybe…just maybe…that wasn't such a bad thing that he couldn't get back. Except for the problem that he wouldn't have his sweet revenge on the tin cans.

Vegeta balled his fists. After all the living hell they had put him through he wanted nothing more than to let them pay. He just needed to find out how his arrival had affected the course of the past, the present and the future first. This time travelling thing had become more confusing than he had anticipated.

The tired warrior sighed. He was going to fetch the wench tomorrow morning. If she wanted to freeze half to death, then he was not going to stop her from doing that to herself. He turned around roughly and pulled a sheet up to his ear.

A couple of miles east, the young Bulma rubbed a stick between her hands. Damn it, why was it so hard to start a little fire? They made it look so easy on TV in those survival programs! She estimated that it was approximately two in the morning and she was freezing to death. Sadly, the cloths she had managed to uncapsule weren't thick enough to keep out the stinging cold. The frustrated teen grit her teeth. Anything better than to spend another minute with that _alien _monster.

Her hand was still throbbing from the incident with the prince of pains in the ass and it was difficult to start a fire with it. She sighed. Was this really worth it to make a point? Bulma threw herself on her back with an exasperated grunt. If only Goku were here. He could start a fire with a small energy beam. She curled up on her side and folded her arms around herself in an attempt to conserve some heat. She lay there for a good twenty minutes, silently cursing herself about taking the wrong set of capsules in her fury.

From the corner of her eye she spotted a dull blue light that was getting bigger every second. The young scientist jumped on her feet. What_ is_ that? Could it be a UFO? Am I having a close encounter and am I being abducted?! Chills ran along her spine out of fright, but she soon realized that she had been half right. From the flame-like silhouette she could make out a certain Saiyan.

The hotheaded teen shot her most angry look into the direction of the blue aura. The prince slowly descended on the ground, a few meters away from the infuriated woman. He looked her defiantly in the eye, while being angry at her and angry at himself that he had gone through the trouble of locating the wench. In truth, it had only taken him ten minutes to catch up on her, but he wasn't comfortable with his own motives. He disliked the idea of this terribly frail woman walking the night on her own and that she lured him into committing an altruistic act. A kind of deed he wasn't particularly comfortable with.

Vegeta sneered at her. "_Girl_, don't run from me again."

"Or what?" Bulma tried her best to match the arrogance of the warrior prince.

"I could show you, if you prefer." The corner of his mouth slightly pulled up into a semi-smirk.

Bulma turned her back to him. "Well, high and mighty prince of dweebs…I think you should apologize."

A small muscle jerked next to his eye out of irritation. He had come all the way to save her sorry ass from potential bears and rapists, and now she was spreading his patience thin.

"Just give me your hand, _little_ girl." The prince tried his best to keep up his pronunciation as malicious as possible to compensate for his next altruistic move.

"You already looked at it. Do you expect any miraculous healing or something?" She cradled her hand and turned her head to the side to give her forceful employer an extra insult with her eyes.

Vegeta growled. He was trying his best to stay civil with her, but she was making it terribly hard for him.

Bulma felt herself yanked backwards. The alien behind her had grabbed her hand in a nanosecond. She turned around to see what he was going to do to her next. She cringed as she saw yellow light being aimed at the purple bruise on the back of her hand, afraid that her hand would combust any minute. But a pleasant warmth flooded around her hand instead.

"What are you doing?" She asked with scientific interest.

"I'm relieving the _hurt_- as you like to call this- with my ki."

Bulma didn't even notice the insult while she was inspecting her hand, which indeed slowly started to feel better. After a minute or two, the nursing role became too much to bear for the older warrior and he let go of her hand stoically.

The blue haired teen inspected her hand up-close and found herself struggling to react to this newfound kindness that was being projected on her. Although her bruised hand had been_ his_ fault in the first place…

"Uhm, thank you…I guess..?"

Vegeta uncapsuled the two bedroom house again and ordered his companion to go sleep.

After a couple long restless hours, the older Vegeta awakened. The crying of Trunks had been echoing through his mind before he woke up. Vegeta stalked out of the capsule house, trying to relieve the dullness in his head with the aid of the sun. The translucent rays stung his pupils and he squinted to relieve the strain on his eyes, which he couldn't remember he had ever felt before. How he managed to stay this ragged after two days without the tin cans, still puzzled him immensely.

"Hey, sleepy head." Bulma giggled.

The prince shot his best death glare through his still heavy eyelids. "Don't talk to me like that woman. I'm not some weakling, whom you can humiliate when it suits you. Like that pathetic ex of yours."

He saw her swallow heavily at the mentioning of her ex and he quickly changed the subject. "What time is it?"

Bulma shoved a large bowl of rice balls in his direction. "It's half past two."

Vegeta began shoving food in his mouth with a thoughtful look on his face. Why had he overslept? He should have been properly healed by now. It usually took him one long night to get his strength back up again. Maybe the last few beatings had taken more out of him than he had been aware of…His main objective had been to stay half alive for more than a decade. Everything else had been of secondary importance.

The prince sunk deeper into his thoughts. His mind started regurgitating threads of his dreams about the death of his son. Trunks would have been in his teens by now…Vegeta violently repressed his inner turmoil and pushed himself in the direction of his plans.

"It's a good thing you've brought those sluggish vehicles with you, woman. I'm going to leave for half a day and in the mean time you can catch the first dragon ball." He crammed another rice ball in his mouth and looked at her disinterested.

Bulma looked shocked at how casually this strange fellow was telling her to go fetch the first ball on her own. First he was all about abducting her and forcing her to collaborate with him and NOW he wanted to make her do all the dirty work. Her face reddened instantly. What the hell was this guy thinking? He pretended that he owned her!

Vegeta halted mid-bite. She looked absolutely stunning when she was red-faced like that. It had been the same with _his_ Bulma. Damn it, why couldn't she be some ugly broad?!

"How the hell am supposed to do that on my own?! YOU are the fast alien monster!"

The prince smirked. "What's the matter _little_ girl? Are you scared you might break a nail?" It had angered her when he had said that in his own timeline and it was doing the trick again with this younger version. He watched how she threw her empty bowl on the ground and stomped on it.

She absolutely HATED how he called her little girl and how he knew to push the right buttons to get her all riled up. This freak had said that they had started out as enemies. It wasn't hard to picture him as some bully that was going to invade her planet one day. He had already done that with her home!

Vegeta gobbled up his food. With an amused look in his eyes he watched the woman before him ignite a scolding session. After a minute of swearing and cussing, she was exhausted from the effort she just had exerted.

"Are you done, woman?"

Before she could reply he had shot off in the bright sky. The Saiyan heard a new scolding episode starting behind him, but the sound quickly faded in the distance. He dove into a lake and swam for two kilometers under the surface to get himself clean. _Sort of_. Since the android menace he had gotten used to bathing without running water. Vegeta inhaled deeply after he ducked into the air again. He was determinant to find out which theory about time lines and dimensions was correct.

In the mean time, some other beings elsewhere in the unisverse, exchanged some information with each other.

"Well Raditz, It seems like we have to do some third class work for Frieza again. Damn lizard is afraid to get his disgusting claws dirty". The alien leaned against undulating thick glass and stared into the dark pits of the universe.

His companion leaned lazily against the wall, arms crossed. "It's just a scouting mission. Besides, I don't think we're going to run into anything that we couldn't handle. We might actually have some little fun…" Raditz smirked.

The alien wrinkled his nose. "I'm not in the mood for the distractions you are suggesting and I _know _that it is hardly going to be a challenge. I'm just irritated that he is wasting our time. We could conquer half a galaxy in the time we're about to spend traveling to that shithole corner of the universe."

"Haven't they told you yet? We are going to test the newest space pods. It jumps through wormholes, apparently. They have been studying wormholes and their uses for three years now. This obviously shortens our journey." Raditz stated matter-of-factly.

The figure next to him looked slightly pleased. "let's get this over with then."

"Yes, my prince."

**Authors note:** Vegeta is finally going to time travel again! And the young Vegeta is going to visit planet earth. DUN DUN DUNNNN! What good can come from that? None!

Why is this site deleting my stars?!

Thank you for reading this too long chapter. I've had great difficulties to write this chapter. The dimension/time travel thoughts have almost killed me when I was writing and rewriting them. Complicated (uche uche) things are hard to write when it's not your mother language (cries). I hope it came out half-decent. See you somewhere next week!


	5. Chapter 5

**Authors note:** thank you so much for all the great reviews! It really brightens my day and gives me inspiration to write.

**The story so far**: my boyfriend told me that the story was getting more difficult to follow at this point. Basically, the main character is a Vegeta from an alternate timeline, somewhat similar to the timeline from future Trunks. The difference is that this older Vegeta is the only survivor from the androids and he has been fighting them alone for more than a decade. He escapes to a point in de Dragonball timeline and meets the Z-warriors in their teens. Vegeta persuades the younger Bulma to find the Dragonballs, although he hasn't decided what he wants to wish for yet. In an effort to understand the nature of timelines in general, Vegeta travels to a point in the Canon DBZ timeline.

**Chapter 5**

Mr. Briefs watched their unworldly guest depart in his freshly repaired time machine. He had been tinkering enthusiastically on the brilliant construction of his daughter for ten hours straight. When he looked over the interior parts of the machine, his heart had swollen with pride. This baby was going to revolutionize current engineering and quantum physics and it had all been instigated by his brilliant daughter.

During his fiddling with the wires, he was able to connect some loose hanging ends. He assumed that this problem had been the cause of their guest traveling back a few more years than he had intended.

The unsocial guest had come to him five minutes ago, demanding to return to another point in time. Mr. Briefs shook his head slightly. That boy needed to learn some manners.

His hair color had turned black again when he boarded the traveling device. Although Mr. Briefs had almost no point of reference, there was something slightly off about him. He seemed almost…_Ill_.

The older scientist watched the device dematerialize into thin air, with a boyish gleam in his eyes.

The slightly panting prince fervently wished that the time machine had been properly repaired, or else he was never going to return to this time again. He had set the timer exactly three years before the arrival of the androids, so he could confirm if he had altered the timeline by traveling into history. He was probably going to face Freeza again. Damn, that had been one hell of a battle in his own dimension, he mused.

In a split second he had shifted to another time, while thinking about all the possible scenarios that he could encounter in the next timeline.

Vegeta stepped gracefully out of the time machine, briefly wondering how the younger version of his lover was doing since he had abandoned her. He harshly pushed down the feelings of concern that were vaguely plaguing him. She was probably resourceful enough to solve any problem that she would encounter, Vegeta reassured himself. The corner of his mouth lifted slightly. Indeed, she had always been one nifty vixen.

He had landed in a forest near Capsule Corporation. He had deliberately planned this location, since he wanted to avoid being seen, like had been the case with his former visit.

The slightly fatigued warrior scanned his surroundings briefly and analyzed all strong ki's on the planet in this different time. All the '_warriors'_, as they liked to call themselves, seemed concentrated in one spot, far away. He could feel the Namek, the spawn of Kakkarot and a couple of earthlings. He recognized one of them as Bulma, her Ki was the exact same as when he had gotten acquainted with her in his own timeline. It differed slightly from the younger version of his lover he just had abandoned. This source felt somewhat more vibrant. Vegeta swallowed hard, unconsciously.

It took him a couple of seconds before he realized that the strongest ki of the group was in fact his own ki, although it was in a weak state. It was a dissociating and disturbing experience to feel his own life energy.

Vegeta's eyes shot to the sky when two new strong ki's manifested spontaneously in his search for life energies. "Freeza and King cold. I've arrived precisely on the specified time" Vegeta muttered to himself. In his own timeline, an exhausting, but epic battle had taken place to kill the revenge filled father and son. Kakkarot had arrived much later.

The veteran warrior suppressed his ki as much as possible, while still being able to fly at great speeds. It was a handy trick he taught himself out of necessity from when the androids had been nipping at his heels for over a year.

The warrior dipped into the blue of the sky and headed towards his destination.

Somewhere in another timeline, blue strands were sticking to a pulsing vein on a head. And this particular head had been fuming non-stop for the last five minutes. How _dare _he just leave me alone like this! How _dare_ he force me, _and_ my family, to dance perfectly in his disturbing tune? The absolute worst part was that he was getting away with it all. That son of a-

The youngster ceased her lament to push a series of buttons, while moving a stick feverishly with her other hand. Now was her chance! She all-most had it. There it was, dangling, in hands reach, swinging to the right and left. It was taunting her with its shiny tangerine stars, and unpredictable movements. A robot arm approached it, with steady precision. The ball suddenly disappeared from eyesight.

DAMN IT! Why did this ball have to be stuck in a fucking tornado?! And why was she suddenly spewing so much vulgar language? It must be the influence of that intruding alien. Bulma threw her robot arms in the air out of exasperation. She could feel the whirlwind strongly pulling her vehicle to the left. What would her mother say to her about her new grown foul mouth?

She growled and landed her transformer-like vehicle. All this trouble for some stupid prince from who-knows-where. And why the hell did he have to be kind of attractive? His impeccable figure and his air of arrogance certainly complicated his presence. She shook her head. This guy was far too old to be having intimate fantasies about. Maybe in a different place and a different time, she could have a taste of that rugged mystery guy. She knew it wasn't a wise idea of course. She always fell for the most exciting bad guys. That was exactly what had drawn her to Yamcha.

This Vegeta guy had invented a whole new level of badassness.

_Yamcha_…Tears sprung into her eyes, but she squeezed them tightly between her lids. He was not worth a single tear from now on. That stupid prince had been right. She suddenly felt guilty about the way she had been reflecting of their mysterious guest. He had come from an insanely terrible future, where he had been the sole survivor. No wonder he was kind of screwed-up in the head.

Bulma's face radiated with newfound resolve. She was going to get this orange son of a bitch and prove to herself _and_ the prince that this extremely pretty genius could hold her own against the forces of nature. She grabbed the dragon radar and sped into the direction of the dot.

"Come here, you little asshole!" She was going to brush her teeth with soap when she returned home. IF she was ever going to return. Bulma braced herself for some serious machine-handling, because she was about to enter a tornado with brute force.

In a different place and in a different time, Vegeta halted mid-air when a disturbance occurred in the network of energies. An unknown ki invaded his conscious. It was very strong and it vaguely resembled the life energy of the younger version of himself. Was it another Saiyan? Who the hell could it be? This curious account might prove that this timeline deviated from his own timeline. Had he miscalculated the arrival of the androids? He had planned to land precisely three years before the arrival of the tin cans. Coincidently, it was also the first of many battle hours with Freeza and his disgusting toad-like father.

The prince flung himself in the air, desperately in need to clear up the questions that were plaguing his mind. Was it another Saiyan coming to collect his kin for battle? His thirst for battling a new powerful opponent sprouted in the pit of his stomach. It was a natural feeling that had been dismantled in the reign of the overgrown calculators. They had made sure he would never be fit enough to decently fight back, thereby murdering any small hope of victory. He hated them for coercing him into running instead of fighting. They had depraved him from all Saiyan necessities and pleasures. A satisfying meal, a good night sleep, the thrill of an exciting fight…

Fighting with the androids had quickly ceased to become exciting. With every broken limb and with every metal appendage sinking into his skin, the fire of his pride had extinguished, little by little. It was the last thing they had tried to strip from him, and it had become the only thing that he had clung desperately too. Even though there was only a handful of his princely pride left...

The prince noted that the landscape beneath him changed from an abundant forest into crusty dirt. He could feel the to-be-deceased warriors trying to get closer to the ki's of the two ice-jins. The unknown ki had mingled with the ki's of the ice-jin minions, Vegeta realized. He needed to hurry his pace if he wanted to unmask this foreign and ominous energy.

The older prince stationed himself on the edge of the crater between two rocks so he could not be seen from afar. He elongated his neck to inspect the scene below him, squinting in an effort to decipher what was taking place below him. He recognized King cold and his demon spawn in front of their spaceship. They were surrounded by a lot of weak ki's and one particularly strong one, although it was difficult to determine how strong. His former self and the earth warriors were closing in on them on the other side of the crater, if he was not mistaken.

_WHAT?_

He had almost missed it. The subordinates of the devil-duo were carved open in a flash. A teenager with purple hair stood defiantly in a circle of corpses.

The veteran warrior inhaled sharply when the teenager turned blond and _much_ more powerful a few minutes later. He recognized the distinguished way the golden aura fervently licked in the air. There was no doubt about it…it was a _Super Saiyan_. In another hot flash, Freeza suddenly disappeared, for the untrained eye at least. However, Vegeta had seen all and looked at the flying debris of Freeza in mid-air before it was incinerated. The veteran warrior almost couldn't believe his own eyes. Who the hell was this guy? He had eliminated one of his lifelong arch enemies in a second! And why the hell did this Saiyan have _PURPLE_ hair!?

A minute later the father of Freeza had been killed as well. Vegeta stood frozen between the rocks, trying to catch every clue that could give away the identity of this deviant Super Saiyan.

The ki's of the z-warriors revealed themselves to the unknown slayer. They chatted unintelligibly for a minute and ascended into the air one by one. The veteran silently followed them just out of eyesight till he felt the younger warriors slowing their pace and descend to the ground again.

Vegeta's confusion increased by the minute and the hunger for answers put a strain on his chest. He absentmindedly rubbed the skin above his heart, while hiding in a nearby tree. He was close enough to read their faces.

It looked like they were settling to wait for something or someone. His eyes lingered on the back of his future deceased lover. She looked as vibrant as ever and carelessness spilled off her fiery composure and speech. _Bulma_… He kind of missed her loud-mouthedness and her infuriating behavior. The teenage version of Bulma hadn't fully bloomed in that particularly area yet. True, she was a spitfire, but her cunning remarks and fearlessness hadn't been fully developed yet.

He wrinkled his nose when the _weakling ex_ draped an arm around the mirage of his deceased lover.

The silhouette of his deceased lover forced reluctant and awkward truths to the surface. It hadn't been _love_, as the humans liked to call it. It hadn't been lust either. Their attachment had drifted somewhere in between, driving them both crazy, each in a different direction. It was a distraction from their duties and they both retreated from their affair, once it was clear that Bulma was pregnant. He knew that she was capable of opening her heart and shower him with its contents. She had offered it in small ways, almost tentatively. He hadn't recognized her tokens of trust, support and attention as something that she gave him freely and with conviction. He thought that she offered these favors to him because he had demanded it from her.

He had left her by exiting the earth's solar system as soon as her stomach had started to bulge.

When Piccolo shifted to the right, the exact same scowl came into view that he recognized from the mirror. It was a different, younger version of himself. He peered wearily to the other fighters and it was clear that killing them would not be his lowest priority someday. He looked well fed and virility was oozing from his pores. He remembered that he was blinded by his own deranged dreams about universal dominance at that point in his life. He realized that these dreams had been prophetic; he was strong enough to force his will on all matter in the universe right in this moment. The problem was that he didn't care about forcing every living organism on its scathed knees before him. He had changed, he silently marveled.

Vegeta remained deep in thought as he observed the scene play out before him. He knew Kakarrot would arrive somewhere in this area and they seemed to be waiting for him. The purple haired warrior rushed to the newly arrived clown as soon as he had landed. The older Vegeta raised an eyebrow when the boy and the circus freak -this time with matching cloths- were having a private talk and spar.

A couple of minutes later, he noticed the boy using a familiar device. Another shock momentarily paralyzed his body when he realized that the boy was leaving in a time machine. He had to find out who this boy was and why he was able to ascend. _Right now._ He waited impatiently until everyone had flown away and he shot up in super speed to catch the offending vehicle with the equally offending boy in it.

Trunks jumped in his seat when his father suddenly appeared before him. At least…it looked like his father, but he was different. His eyes were hollow, he was leaner and he had scars that had magically appeared onto his skin. The Vegeta-look-a-like placed his palm against the glass and leered at him with an intensity that was difficult to bare. He pointed to the ground with his other hand, oblivious that he was ordering his son to land.

Vegeta eyed the adolescent distrustfully when he stepped out of the egg-shaped vehicle. The boy was slightly taller than him and his muscles were les compactly positioned on his limbs. Probably due to his age, the veteran noted.

The boy mirrored his weary look, unsure of what was taking place in this dimension. He had encountered his father before and was now greeted by an older and ragged version of him.

"Speak!" The older version of his father demanded simply. He slowly gathered hot energy, while gripping the torn spandex on his chest tightly with his other hand. Trunks started to panic. Who the hell was this guy and why was he approaching him in such a hostile manner? He didn't know if he was able to injure someone that resembled his father this greatly, if he was forced to fight him. What was he going to tell him? Sweat formed on his brown when he struggled on his explanation.

"I…I can't tell you. I could ruin everything by telling you..." His eyes fixated on the blue ki ball, resting in the air above the palm of his father's hand.

The older Vegeta slowly stepped closer, oblivious that he was threatening his future son. "And why is that? Speak." He insisted again, while feeding more energy into the ki ball ominously.

Trunks inhaled sharply and looked around frantically. How was he going to escape this situation?

"I can only tell you if you reveal your identity." He tried to stand tall, supporting his resolve, while he nervously studied the features of his father's doppelganger. Could it be his grandfather? He was killed by Freeza, wasn't he? No, he looked far too young to be his grandfather.

The veteran warrior sighed. It looked like the boy wasn't going to tell him if he thought he could alter the future in the process. He momentarily drew back his energy ball. "Fine. I've come from a distant future and I happened to notice that we have similar traveling ways."

Trunks' eyes flung wide open. This was probably an older version of his father. "Wait. What? You are ALIVE in your future? You are Vegeta, prince of the Saiyans, right?"

Apparently, this boy knew who he was and implicated that he was dead in another dimension. The oblivious father balled his fists tightly. "Listen boy, I don't know who the fuck you are, but you seem to know _ME_. Now _WHO _the hell are you?!"

The boy dropped his eyes to the ground. "My name is Trunks." He said simply. He hoped that mentioning his name would be enough.

Vegeta stopped his breath for a moment. The ball of energy completely dissipated in the air. It couldn't be. He refused to believe it. There was some other dimension where his SON was alive and he was now standing before him, at the verge of adulthood. "Trunks...My son?" He stammered. The boy affirmed this fact with a shy nod.

The veteran warrior turned silent to collect his thoughts. He looked straight in the eye of the boy who had been brutally murdered in his timeline. The boy he had failed to protect. The boy who's questioning blue eyes haunted him every time he looked at the blue in the sky and whose incessant crying fuelled his guilt-ridden dreams.

Vegeta realized that he had touched him for the very first time when he found the infant, lifeless in a puddle of blood and grime at Capsule Corp. His mother beside him, unrecognizable if it wasn't for a few strands of blue hair.

Trunks interrupted his thoughts by explaining that he and his mother were the only survivors of the Z-gang and that humanity was slowly losing the battle against the androids in his timeline. Bulma had sent him to the past so that he could warn the Z-gang for the upcoming fight. She had said that it was the perfect opportunity to meet his father. Trunks said he wanted to fight side by side with the Z-warriors against their common enemy, three years from now.

His father listened to him quietly, with barely detectable pain in his eyes. But it was there. This version of this son had lived his own hell of a life, fighting the androids constantly. He ground his teeth when he realized that he had also failed to protect them in this other timeline. His failures haunted him throughout different dimensions apparently.

This boy had gone out of his way to save the life of his younger self. Didn't he know what kind of monster his father really was?

Trunks nervously looked at his father, suddenly afraid of his intense, carefully judging eyes. He had been awfully silent throughout his explanation. This Vegeta seemed different from the one he had just met. More lived and less arrogant. The hateful edges seemed to be blunted. The fact that he didn't recognize his own son, but knew of his existence, probably meant that he had lost his son in the other timeline at an early age.

Vegeta felt himself being pulled to the ground. He was baffled, put simply. He had dreamed of his deceased son for over a decade and now he was standing in the flesh before him. Finally, the veteran spoke.

"In my dimension I am the only living being, wildlife not included. I have been fighting the androids for more than a decade by myself. I don't know exactly how long it has been."

Trunks recognized the haunted look in the dark eyes of his father. Their life paths were remarkably similar. A mutual understanding filled the air silently.

Vegeta wanted to say something, reach out to him in some way. But he had never done something like that as far as he could remember. He sighed. "You are strong."

"Thanks." Trunks felt a blush creep up on his cheeks. His silently cursed himself that he was turning crimson in front of his father.

"Why are _YOU _here?"

"That is none of your concern." Vegeta regretted his gruff tone immediately. Next to that, his chest ache was distracting him from the conversation. Before his son could react, he steered their first conversation into a different direction. "You say you came here to meet your father. What exactly do you want from _HIM_" he emphasized meaningfully. Vegeta gripped his chest tightly. Damn it, why was experiencing breathing difficulties?

Trunks thought about it for a moment. Was it wise to spill his heart to a clone of his father? His mother had warned him about his cold and arrogant conduct. His intense onyx eyes bore into him mercilessly. It was difficult to lie to him, he acknowledged to himself.

"I don't know. Recognition perhaps...To fight side by side against our enemy. And maybe learn something about my Saiyan heritage."

Trunks noticed his heavy breathing. He seemed ill, this version of his father. "Are you feeling well?"

Vegeta ignored the question. "You are not going to get any of that from _HIM_." It was sad really. He was protecting his son from a younger version of himself. He blinked a couple of times to focus is pupils. His vision was starting to get blurry.

Trunks scowled. "Why?'. "Because I am a first class bastard. I've always been. And I've taken pride in it for the most part of my life." Vegeta snarled in his face. He swayed lightly to the side a second later, but he steadied himself quickly.

Trunks stared at him in confusion. "Why? Why are you telling me this?"

"Your mother didn't tell you a lot about me, didn't she?"

Trunks shook his head and waited for his father to clear up his shocking statements.

Vegeta's eyes were painted with bewilderment. He felt his usual reserved nature slip through his fingers. He had to speak freely before this moment of redemption was lost.

"You and your mother are dead because of me. I realize this now. I was too wrapped up in other matters to protect you. Hell, I wasn't even in the neighborhood. You were six months old. _That_ is the bastard you seek a bond with, in three years." Vegeta looked at his son defiantly, incapable to cope with the confessions of his inner turmoil in another way. And why the hell was he feeling sick? Standing straight had gotten remarkably difficult over a timespan of a few minutes.

The younger Saiyan was taken aback by the pained confessions from the older Saiyan. His mother could've prepared him more thoroughly. He had a hard time grasping the idea that he was going to be rejected by his father indefinitely. Trunks stubbornly shook his head. "You are another version of my father." He wanted to prove to himself that it was still possible to have some sort of bond. This is Vegeta is a different Vegeta, isn't he?

The veteran shook his head. "From what I've seen, this timeline is the same as mine, except from _our _arrival and the battle with the androids." He sunk to his knees. He felt like he was dying from a heart attack. This is the end. He knew it. And why the hell should he care anyway? Fortunately, he had the luck to witness the incredible fighting potential from his only descendant.

The hurt was visible on Trunks' face. Here he was, having a conversation with his father for the first time and his father was telling him that he had never given a damn about him and his mother. "You didn't care about us at all?" Tears were threatening to spill from his eyes. Trunks saw his father collapse and he unconsciously edged closer.

Vegeta knew that he was hurting his son by telling him the truth. But he was dying now, apparently, and he felt the need to control the damage somewhat. It was difficult to pronounce his feelings, though. But did it actually matter? He was going to die for fuck's sake!

"Not…not at that time." Vegeta closed his eyes for a second to block his spinning view. This is the end, he thought. Vegeta laughed inwardly. What a way for the Prince of all Saiyans to go. Was it that silly heartvirus, the one that had ironically killed the '_great'_ Kakkarot? It was possible, he could've contracted it from rotting corpses in the water.

Trunks rushed to his father. Vaguely recognizing the symptoms. "What do you mean by 'not at that time'?"

The broken prince coughed before he answered. "I've been alone on this mud ball for who the fuck knows how long, except for those tin cans and I…

And I've thought about you and your mother a lot." He gripped some dirt with his partially gloved hand.

Trunks tried to hold his emotions, but a single tear sprung free from his eye. How could he respond to this? He needed a moment to let all this information sink in. "Let me take you to my time. We can cure you. Don't talk, save your strength."

"No! You have to hear this, before I die this dog's death." The fallen prince paused to catch his breath. "Your mother was the only one I could trust with my life. Tell her that." Vegeta stood on the doorstep of darkness and started dipping into unconsciousness every other second.

Trunks tried to grab his father's shoulder, but his wrist was caught in mid-air. "Listen to me.", he breathed harshly. "You turned out well. It's a good thing I wasn't around to ruin it. Kill those steel bastards for me, will you?" Trunks' tears were spilling freely now.

Blackness started swallowing the prince wholly. "Forgive me..." He whispered to the teenage version of his son and to the deceased version of his son.

Trunks wiped his face before he dragged his father to the time machine.

**Authors note**: well, that was a heavy ending wasn't it? There is more to come. I've even changed the genre from romance/angst to romance/drama. Is there someone with too much time on his/her hands and a weird DBZ fetish, like I have? I'm currently looking for a beta-reader. Send me a message if you're interested.

**The story so far:** Vegeta has traveled to the exact moment in time where Future Trunks is going to warn the Z-warriors for the arrival of the androids. So in a rare coincidence, the older Vegeta meets the almost adolescent version of his son. In his own time-line Bulma and Trunks were killed right after the arrival of the androids. Vegeta has become very ill and Trunks is going to bring him to his own timeline, where Bulma and a portion of the human population are still alive. So exciting, Vegeta will meet future Bulma in the next chapter!


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** surprisingly, I do not own anything that has to with DB, DBZ or GT. Comes as a shock, doesn't it?

**Authors note:** thanks to my awesome beta-reader (gamegirl07), I can finally post a corrected chapter!

**Warnings:** this chapter contains a lemon and there will be lots of swearing (as usual). 

**Chapter 6**

The blue-haired adolescent sat at her desk, one hand holding up her chin, the other hand fingering a gleaming object, decorated with stars. It had been a long time since she had seen the mysterious, rude, but strangely attractive alien from the future. He had invaded her home and privacy, he was the cause of her parents' recurrent fainting, and the things she had done for him all turned out to be a waste of time. He said that he would be back in a few hours. It had been weeks ever since…

Bulma sighed deeply.

Due to her brilliance and her charming ways, Bulma had managed to gather all seven balls on her own. She had felt mightily independent at first and she had arrogantly shown off the seven balls to her warrior friends, ex-boyfriend included. She had done it all on her own. Of course, she had batted her lashes at strangers to lend her a hand, but in the end there had been no need for brawl. Just brilliance and beauty. She winked at her distorted reflection in the sixth ball_._

"Fuck" she cursed, _"_Thinking of something meaningful to wish for is hard!"

Unfortunately, after she had gathered all balls, boredom had ensued. She had gone through a lot of trouble for nothing. She sighed heavily again and watched the sky through her roof window. She had a feeling that some_thing_ or some_one w_as going to occur. It would be out of place somehow; it wasn't supposed to happen yet. She could feel it stir deep inside of her core. She shook her head determinately. Now that strange alien had elicited a foul mouth _AND _an awful case of superstition within her.

"Dammit!"

* * *

Somewhere in a different timeline, the veteran Vegeta stirred in his deep slumber.

Before he opened his eyes, he had already determined he was in some sort of regeneration tank, similar to the kind that was used by Freeza's army. He opened his eyes and waited for his pupils to adjust to the light and the green water. He experienced difficulty moving his arms, but managed to bring one close to his face. His skin looked more even, despite the wrinkling induced by the liquid. He observed his arm more up-close. The numerous scars on his arm had faded visibly.

The last image he could recall was fighting with the overgrown calculators. Where was he and why was he in a regeneration tank? He squinted to see more clearly through the greenish liquid. He could make out something, or someone. It looked like a sleeping form, draped over a desk next to him. Was it the woman, just like a few years before the arrival of the androids? She had kept watch when he had been unconscious in the hospital after he had blown up the gravity chamber.

No…it wasn't true. Bulma was dead. He had witnessed her bloody corpse on the ground, more likely pulverized than broken. An amputated arm with red painted nails had been loosely draped over the corpse of his infant son. He squeezed his eyes shut in an effort to escape the gory images.

The device had probably detected that he had awoken, because the liquid suddenly drained from the tank. His oxygen mask unclasped and the glass door to the tank opened simultaneously.

The older Saiyan stepped lightly out of the tank, naked except for the black shorts that were clinging to his thighs. He felt unsteady and paused to regain his balance. He wearily eyed the stirring form on the desk, not able to see clearly yet. A fuzzy assembly of blue waves, pale features, clinical whiteness and sparkly azure orbs slowly approached him.

He blinked. _Bulma_… It couldn't be, but she looked like her, she smelled like her and her energy signature felt like hers. A slightly older face than he remembered appeared in his view. She smiled softly. Is this a mirage from _my _Bulma or some sort of apparition of her? Vegeta questioned silently. He was dreaming; that was a logical conclusion. Or he was dead, maybe that was an even more logical conclusion.

The ethereal being halted right before him and brought two fingers slowly towards his neck. He hadn't expected to actually feel her touch on his skin, so he flinched lightly. It had been a long time since somebody had approached him without any hostile intentions.

It spoke, the embodiment of his Bulma from the past. "Silly, I'm just checking your pulse and temperature. It seems fine." She giggled at the confused Saiyan before her.

She gazed up to him with scientific wonderment and something else he couldn't exactly place.

Vegeta watched every detail and every movement from the being before him closely. Her voice was slightly lower, less piercing somehow. Bulma took a step back, visibly puzzled by the deafening silence he was emitting.

"Who or what the hell are you and why the hell was I in a regeneration tank?" His voice sounded more raspy than usual.

The being before him raised a surprised eyebrow and needed a moment before she understood why this version of Vegeta had trouble remembering how he had gotten in this timeline. The genius as she was, she quickly came to an answer.

"You probably suffer from amnesia, induced by the lengthy recovery in the regeneration tank. I am Bulma Briefs and the mother of Trunks Briefs, the boy you have met in a different timeline. You were suffering from the heart virus Goku has died from. Surprisingly, it is the only human disease that full blooded Saiyans are susceptible to." She stopped her explanation to observe the behavior of this mysterious Vegeta closely.

The veteran blinked sluggishly, the feeling of being sedated slowly cleared from his head. Memories of traveling to different timelines flooded back to him. This woman indeed resembled "his" Bulma greatly. Far more than the younger version that he had encountered in the first timeline.

The dozy prince grabbed a loose strand that fell astray from her ponytail and brought it closer to his eyes, oblivious to the fact that he was tightly yanking the head of another version of his deceased lover.

"Hey, what are you doing! Let go of my hair!" She tried to pull her hair from his iron grasp. She saw him inspect the strand up close and sniff it, before he released. She sighed out of relief; he didn't seem to have any malicious intent towards her in this drowsy state.

When she had tucked the said strand safely behind her ear she locked eyes with a slightly startled veteran Saiyan.

"It _is_ you." He said incredulously. "You are old." He pointed out matter-of-factly. Bulma was about to ignite a bitch fit, but she was stopped by his next sentence; "Like you should be". She figured he was probably comparing her to versions of herself from different timeline that he had encountered. A half smile broke through on her slightly aged face prettily.

"Yes. Just like you, you mean." She blinked as she observed the man before him. He looked slightly taller than she could remember. Additionally, he seemed leaner and his body was decorated with a tapestry of fading scars. He was still radiating raw power, although it hung more subtly around him at this stage of his life.

It was an image of her long lost lover and he looked absolutely beautiful to her, in his own right. Although it wasn't _really_ him, she reminded herself bitterly. 'Hold your horses Bulma, don't let yourself get carried away again.' She scolded to herself silently.

"You are lucky, you know. If Trunks hadn't been there when you collapsed, you would have died. "

Vegeta crossed his intense gaze with her soft one before he spoke. "Trunks." He still had a hard time processing the fact that he had met his almost full grown son. The boy who was supposed to be dead…

Bulma watched him zone out again. He was still dazed, she concluded. Now, what could she do to pull him back to reality? She thought.

"I heard you've missed me, Veggie," Bulma teased with a grin.

Vegeta looked visibly shocked by the mere audacity of the woman that greatly resembled his deceased lover. He quickly retaliated. "What are you blabbering, woman. Fix me something to eat instead."Bulma looked at him strangely. Their way of conversing seemed eerily familiar to her. She raised her eyebrows and burst into laughter. She threw her head backwards and planted her hands on her hips while she laughed wholeheartedly. Vegeta looked puzzled, but soon discovered the humor of the situation and smirked characteristically back at her.

* * *

After a few hours and a thorough body clean-up in his old bathroom, his head seemed to be cleared as well. The older prince entered the dining room and was greeted by the purple haired adolescent who was currently seated at the table. He beamed up at his father, who returned the greeting with a curt nod.

Delicious smells filled the room and the stomachs of the two Saiyans growled simultaneously. An awkward tension set on the newfound father and son. Trunks sneaked a look at him tentatively and Vegeta drummed his fingers on the table while trying to ignore this new complicated situation.

Luckily, Bulma entered with numerous plates of food. The veteran hid his appreciating stares of her figure, carefully. She had changed from her working attire into a purple dress that covered her whole body, but was skintight. Before she could say anything, the two Saiyans dove in with full conviction.

Bulma giggled girlishly. _Saiyans_…

Vegeta asked between bites how long he had been in the tank.

Bulma placed an extra bowl of rice on the table and pulled a bucket of orange juice out of the fridge. "Almost a month."

Vegeta halted mid-bite with a bewildered look in his eyes. "What?! Explain!"

Bulma blinked. She wasn't used to this type of explosive conversations anymore. She needed to keep in mind that this was the way Vegeta expressed himself in normal conversations. She wondered how similar this Vegeta was to the young arrogant prince she had known. '_He's still terribly rude_. _Check_.' She thought.

"The regeneration tank has been modeled to the ones used under Frieza's reign. Although it takes a lot longer to heal, it is the most effective technology we have on earth. In case you're wondering, _I _was the one who build it." She flashed him a confidant smile.

Vegeta cocked an eyebrow and said the first thing he knew that would push a button. "And?"

The blue-haired scientist frowned. '_Belittling accomplishments of other people._ _Check_.'

"And...you were on the brink of permanent organ failure from the heart virus. Plus, it took a lot of time to heal some old internal injuries. Your strength will need one or two weeks before it is fully restored."

"Hn." Vegeta returned to the meal before him, trying to hide the fact that her attractiveness was distracting him. Not a lot had changed. She was still absolutely beautiful to him in her agitated state.

Bulma sighed. '_Still blatantly ungrateful._ _Check_.' On the other hand, he seemed less hostile towards her. And the things he had said to Trunks in the other timeline were especially groundbreaking for him. Yes, this Vegeta had definitely gained some emotional insights.

"How old are you, boy?"

Trunks, who had been nervously following the first conversation between his parents he had ever witnessed, almost chocked in his food. He coughed before he could answer.

"I'm sixteen."

"You are able to transform." Vegeta eyed his son vehemently, bordering on accusation.

"Tell me about the training and battle experience you've had."

And thus Trunks explained their circumstances from the beginning over dinner, after he had swallowed the remains of his meal. Bulma watched as father and son conversed lengthily about battle skills, weaknesses from the androids and survival in general. She smiled secretively. Talking about fighting had always been a true ice breaker for the warrior race. She had been worried about how her former lover would react to their son for the past couple of weeks. It was difficult to calculate his unpredictable behavior, especially since this wasn't technically _their_ Vegeta. Still, it was good to see him. She had missed him too, although she would not have admitted that to herself more than a month ago. Seeing him daily in the tank had stirred something inside her that had been hibernating for years. She had longed for his magnificent physique, the raw power that was oozing from his pores and his single minded warrior bravura that he was forcing on his environment like a steamroller.

After a couple long reflective moments, the older Bulma returned her attention back to the conversation between her son and his newfound father.

"So the nearest opportunity to eliminate them will be somewhere around tomorrow morning."

"That is correct. We will have time to assess your strength in our gravity chamber later this day."

Bulma slammed her fist on the table with all the strength she could muster. "Haven't you heard what I've just said an hour ago? Your energy level will be disturbed for the next two weeks! You can't go and get yourself killed just like that, right after you've finally healed from your last near-death experience!"

The older prince stood immediately, ready for any verbal attack the woman would dish out to him.

"Silence woman! I listen to no one! Now get lost and let us discuss our strategy!" He knew that she was right technically. He could feel it in his body. But he just wanted to grab an excuse to rile her up a little further. She had been too docile for his liking and he was hungry for their familiar verbal spars. The sexual tension between them needed to be relieved _SOMEHOW.  
_  
"I see Vegeta, you haven't lost you psychotic hunger for suicide. Be my guest and kill yourself, just don't come running to me when you get hurt." She crossed her arms and pointed her nose in the air.

"It's amazing how every time you open your mouth, nothing more than ridiculousness falls out!" Vegeta subconsciously licked his lips when the face before him reddened further.

Trunks backed away when his mother started growling, something he hadn't seen her do before. His newfound father growled back and placed his hands on the table. Their noses were inches apart and they seemed to be caught in some kind of intense staring match.

The furious scientist evaluated the face before her discretely. His brows were furrowed and his mouth was pinched into a strained line. But behind the sternness of his eyes, she saw an amused glint. He was enjoying this as much as she was, she concluded victoriously. Ever since her former lover had awoken from the regeneration tank, she had felt more alive than she could remember. 'Shit', she was getting carried away, she realized. To hell with it all.

"Trunks, maybe you should leave us alone for a moment."

"No way, Mom! I'm not leaving you two when you're both about to blow up the house!" His mother looked like she wanted to ignite her new atomic missiles and his newfound father looked like he was going to release an energy beam that could destroy half the galaxy.

Vegeta recognized the hidden nostalgia in the blue piercing orbs in this version of Bulma.

"Do as your mother says, boy."

The spectator exited reluctantly, afraid of what his parents might be capable of. He must have inherited his easy-going character from his grandparents on his mother's side, he muttered under his breath.

Bulma continued to stare her ex-lover intensely in the eye. She wasn't going to back down from him. _Ever_. She felt rejuvenated and a little like a shy girl under his intense, penetrating gaze. It was a challenge to not be intimidated by him. Even after all these years. She could feel the blood coursing through her veins, her heart pounding against her ribcage and a slight tingle in her stomach. She was alive, kicking _AND_ thriving.

The lonesome warrior returned her intense gaze as he saw a naughty smile break through on the face of his ex-lover. Such a powerful woman before him, radiating arrogance, fierceness and _sex_. Was he imagining things or was it true that he could faintly smell her pheromones wavering in the air?

Persuaded by his instincts, Vegeta strutted around the table in a split second and pushed her body against the wall. He sunk against her and slid his nose along her throat and concluded that his sense of smell had been accurate. She was still attracted to him, just like she had been in his own timeline. He focused his attention to her faster beating heart and quickened breath for a few seconds while he looked her straight in the eye.

The adrenaline coursed through the body of the overwhelmed woman. A wall of steel had suddenly pushed itself into her and demanded immediate attention with his captivating stare.

"Vegeta, what are you do-" Her speech was cut off by the rough invasion of a tongue.

The next thing she knew was that a husky voice was caressing her ear. "Just shut up, woman." He stroked the fabric of her dress on her sides sensuously and almost hesitantly.

Bulma grabbed his collar and slammed his mouth on hers again, aching for the fire that those lips ignited within her like they had a long time ago. Vegeta smirked against her before he dove in again.

He caressed her tongue as he picked her up to guide her to the bedroom. However, their journey took longer than expected, since their passionate making-out distracted them from their target location. Vegeta licked the neck of his willing victim feverishly, while he sunk his hands wrist-deep into the wall behind her to release some of his bottled-up sexual frustration.

Unfortunately for Trunks, he witnessed the pre-love making of his parents from the other end of the hall. He unsuspectingly had wanted to check on how his parents were getting along. Well, they were getting along alright. It was great, although he desperately wished he hadn't witnessed it. Trunks quickly exited the building and flew off while covering his ears. Sensitive hearing could be a bitch sometimes.

Bulma looked at the trail they had left around the house and sighed inwardly when she realized that all those dents and holes in the wall had to be fixed in the near future. She was pulled out of her train of thought when she was thrown over a broad shoulder and then tossed on her bed seconds later. She licked her lips as she saw a very virile Saiyan looming above her. _The manliness was dripping off his attractive form_._ 'Check_.'

Vegeta tore off the expensive-feeling purple dress from the body he wanted to devour so greedily. Before the woman under his hands could protest about her ruined clothes, he had already stripped off his own suit and ground himself against her. She moaned as she felt hot lips encircling her right nipple. Vegeta quickly switched to the other breast, while insistently coursing his fingers over the rest of her soft, voluptuous body.

He inhaled the creamy scent of her skin and it awakened a lost part of him, deeply buried beneath years of emptiness; his Saiyan mating instinct.

Her cries heightened his arousal further when his fingers entered her wetness slowly. He imprinted the image of her moist ruby lips and dilated pupils in his mind, before he lowered himself. He teasingly licked around her lower lips and smirked when he felt frustrated fingers gripping tightly at his hair. He slid the flat side of his tongue along her outer lips tentatively slow and trailed her center, while skipping her clit. The woman beneath him wailed painfully when he withdrew his tongue to dine on her inner and outer lips tauntingly again.

"P..please!"

The prince growled with his tongue still buried inside her and the tremors of his response added to the delicious torture he was inflicting on her. That was probably a 'no', she concluded before she lolled back her head again to cry out hoarsely. She pressed her pelvis against his mouth to help herself towards her climax, but the sturdy prince seemed relentless and refused to let her topple over her peak. His fingers slid in and out of her in a steady motion, lubricating her core further. If it was up to him, he would keep her on the edge forever, hauling, begging for him, stroking his arousal, coloring his bleached memories of her writhing beneath him, stroking his arrogance and his need to control and dominate, all at the same time. But his erection was painfully throbbing and his need for her conflicted with his desire to tease her infinitely.

The veteran slowly manipulated the tender flesh around her clit, his fingers still feeling the sheath he was about to explore more thoroughly with his manhood. Waves of pleasure enveloped her, rinsed her insides of bottled up lewdness, when she finally came. Vegeta ground his erection against the mattress in an unsuccessful effort to relieve the tension buildup in his body.

Before the flustered woman could recover from her climax, the prince had already begun to slowly sink into her core. She accepted him wholly and breathed something indistinguishable into his ear. They clung to each other, desperately trying to saturate something that had been brooding unconsciously. Both had lost each other by the brutal hands of the androids in different time lines and now they could momentarily relieve the loneliness that had been plaguing them for years.

Vegeta pushed deeply into her, holding her at arm's length, memorizing the hooded eyes of the woman he had longed for in the past decade. His muscled hips contrasted with her soft and supple ones while he penetrated her slowly. He quickened his pace; he needed to feel his release. Bulma grabbed onto his back and his neck with all the strength she had left in her body to pull him closer. He obliged and hungrily scraped his teeth along her throat, while growling coarsely into her ear.

He buried himself deeply into her to spill his seed, to momentarily relieve the shame for his failures and to numb the hatred directed at himself for blatantly needing her.

Shortly after he collapsed on top of her, he felt swollen lips nipping on his earlobe and hot air fanning along his neck in curt strong waves.

**Authors note:** there will be more time traveling in the near future!


End file.
